#and if anyone wants someone to virtually hang out with

[gaystardykeco]

i just wish there was a way for me to put out like a cry for help like I need help and support rn from someone but i just don't have anyone i really feel like i could ask and i don't really even know what i need or think anyone could help so ultimately there's no point, im just so painfully lonely

[lexsssu]

Sweet (Totsumoto Yuushi)

TAGS: Yuushi/F!Reader, smut, breeding, impregnation, some plot Ao3 ver.

Iɴ ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴜsʙᴀɴᴅ ғɪɴᴅs ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟᴏᴡ ᴏғ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀʜᴏᴏᴅ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴜᴛᴛᴇʀʟʏ ɪʀʀᴇsɪsᴛɪʙʟᴇ.

Totsumoto Yuushi had been down on his luck ever since the recession had forced his former company to let go of him. Applying to other companies also yielded no results, so he was stuck moving from part-time job to part-time job.

However, it wasn’t all that bad.

Before he’d lost his former job as a salaryman, he’d met cute little you.

Soft, fragrant, and probably the sweetest cinnamon roll he had ever come to meet in his entire life. 

You with your saccharine smiles and genuine warmth and concern for some random older man you’d met (he passed out on the side of a dingy alley, having drowned himself in beer after being forced to do some more unpaid overtime).

You could have simply ignored him back then because he would have woken up some hours later with a hangover and got back home relatively in one piece.

But you didn’t.

Out of the goodness of your heart, you managed to drag him back to your own apartment and had him settled on your sofa-bed. Hell, you even went as far as laying a blanket on him and putting a pillow that was softer and smelled nicer than any pillow he’d ever used beneath his head.

“Good morning. I just made breakfast if you’re feeling hungry,” your melodic voice greeted him as he sat up, somewhat disoriented and wondering where the fuck he’d ended up after passing out last night.

But speaking of breakfast, Yuushi feels his stomach grumbling as the scent of freshly cooked rice, eggs, toast, and bacon permeated around the homey apartment. 

“If it’s not too much trouble…” 

“Please, help yourself. I made more than enough to share!”

And for the first time in a very long time, he finds himself sharing a home-cooked meal with someone. Even if you were virtually strangers, he already feels much closer to you than anyone he’s currently acquainted with.

Yuushi goes home with his stomach full, heart warm, and your number on his contact list.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Contrary to popular belief, he does not sleep with you the next time you two meet up (which was at a popular cafe where he finds himself mesmerized at the sheer happiness you exuded just from tasting the pastries and one of those creamy, fruity drinks). 

He does his best to ignore the way the thick, white cream decorates your lips before you lick it off with your pink tongue.

Nor does Yuushi sleep with you even after every time you hang out after that.

He doesn’t do anything to break the ‘platonic’ friendship you two share, because he is so starved of human connection that he finds these moments with you more than enough…for the time being, that is.

Besides, how can he even dare to prey on cute little you, when you blushed so prettily when he so much as placed a hand on your shoulder or on the small of your back as he steered you somewhere?

You certainly deserved better.

A dirty old man like himself isn’t worth your attention and affection if you asked him.

But then he loses his job, fails to find a new one, and continuously fails to pay rent at his old apartment.

Just when it feels like his entire world is crashing before his very eyes, there you are again with a hand held out to him.

“You can stay with me for as long as you need to.”

Yuushi doesn’t hesitate, nor does he hold himself back anymore.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

“I want to impregnate you. Gonna make sure my cock keeps kissing your womb like this.”

With your legs wrapped around his waist and your lower body practically folded in half to accommodate the heavy weight of the older man’s body, Yuushi is as deep inside you as he could be. And just like his words, the tip of his cock keeps bullying the entrance to your womb in this position.

“I'll take good care of you and all the little ones we’ll make, I promise.”

The way your insides practically choke his dick with just a few words renews his stamina, and so you both lose yourselves in a haze of pleasure just before the first rays of sunlight peeked through the blinds.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

You become Mrs. Totsumoto not too long after, and the both of you move outside Tokyo to manage the strawberry farm you inherited from your grandparents. While your husband does most of the heavy work, especially as your pregnancy progressed, you still helped around with light housework and making different kinds of products with the strawberries you produced.

Aside from the fruits themselves, your humble farm also made strawberry jam, milk, strawberry ice cream, etc. You also had contracts with several businesses, supplying them with your high-quality products.

All in all, business was booming and life was good.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

At a newly opened inn somewhere in Japan, the new owner received this week’s shipment of strawberries as his otherwordly wife peeked from behind him.

“Ooooooh, this new batch of strawberries from our supplier is especially tasty today! Would you like to try some K-ko?”

[f1byjessie]

HE LIKES MY AMERICAN SMILE ━━ OP81.

love is a wild ride, and logan sargeant's sister is about to find this out the hard way.

( oscar piastri x sargeant!reader )

━━ part three.

“Are you sure this is gonna work?” You look down at the post. The photos, carefully taken a few nights ago while getting ready for a dinner gala you’d been brought along to as Sophia’s plus one, are pretty. She and you had scrolled and sorted and scrolled and sorted some more trying to pick the perfect ones, and then you’d written and rewritten the caption more times than you could count before finally settling on something vague but faintly implicit.

You study it for a moment longer, then look back up to your friend.

She smirks. “Trust me. It'll work. I got an ex-boyfriend to come crawling back begging for another chance by making him think I was already moving on.”

“It just seems… mean,” you murmur, frowning. You want Oscar to like you— you want it a lot— but you're not sure if this is the way you want to go about it. “Isn’t this just manipulating him?”

Sophia sighs and falls back onto the bed beside you. She gives you a look, gestures down to your phone, and then curls around your shoulder so she can peer down at the screen. “It’s not a soft launch. There’s no guy. The caption doesn’t mention anyone. If he gets the impression that you’re with someone else, then that’s on him.”

You trust her, of course, but this is Oscar. You’ve known him for years. He’s your brother’s best friend, and for the longest time, he was the closest thing you had to a best friend too. As twins, anything Logan did you tended to do with him— soccer, swimming, biking. You even had shared birthday parties growing up. Karting was the first real thing he’d done on his own, but even then you’d always been close by, and that meant you’d always been close by to Oscar too.

Like she can sense your continued hesitation, Sophia speaks up again. “If you post that, and he doesn’t react, then that’s that. You don’t have to do it again.”

“I just— I don’t know.” You worry your lip between your teeth. “I just don’t think it’s the type of thing that he’d go for. He’s, you know, polite like that, I guess? If he thought I was taken, or moving on, or something, then he’d respect that and wouldn’t bother me.”

The silence hangs in the room. She’s still leaning against you, one hand rubbing your shoulder comfortingly and the other hugging you into her. When you stand, she lets you go easily, watching as you begin to pace the length of your bedroom, phone clenched tightly in your hands.

When you finally come to a halt in the corner farthest from the bed, you turn and meet her gaze shyly, “What if he stops ‘maybe’ having feelings for me because he thinks I'm taken? Or, what if he thinks I’m not interested and so he doesn’t ever bring it up?”

“Then you take one for the team and you tell him,” she shrugs. “Woman up and admit that the entire time you were out in that fancy dress of yours with those roses, you’d wished it was him who had gotten them for you and you’d wanted it to be him you were getting dressed up for.”

You look back down to your phone.

You’ve never done this before— boys, at least. The chase. Europe hadn’t been a very easy place to live— not with a schedule that made keeping friends virtually impossible, let alone a boyfriend. When you moved back to the United States, you were focused more on your career, prioritizing yourself over anything else.

You’d been single for so long that you hadn’t been in any hurry to change things, but now the lack of experience is making you nervous. Apart from movies and books and the borderline horror stories Sophia has told you about her own disastrous love life, you don’t know the first thing about dating.

“Y/N, is this about Oscar or something else?”

You look up, still biting at your lip. “What if we break up and I’ve ruined a friendship?”

Sophia raises an eyebrow, “Is he the kind of guy that would throw away a friendship because things didn’t work out?”

“I don’t know! That’s the problem! I wanna say no, that he’d be totally fine and we would be able to pretend like nothing happened and go back to how we were before it all, but I can’t,” you cross the room and lower yourself onto the bed again. “Context matters too. What if it’s a really messy breakup and we can never look at each other the same? What if he does something so unforgivable that it ruins his friendship with my brother? Logan worked hard to make friends and this first season was rough for him. He’s the only American driver on the grid, and they weren’t exactly welcoming. But Oscar was there for him and I would never forgive myself if I did something to ruin that.”

“What could Oscar do that would be so unforgivable it would ruin a friendship?”

You fall back onto the mattress. “I don’t know that either! Realistically he wouldn’t do anything because that’s just who he is— he’s like the nicest most genuinely sweet guy I’ve ever met. But I’m not a fortune teller! I can’t look into the future and know that he won’t get tired of me and go find some other girl, or, I don’t know.”

You can feel tears burning at the back of your eyes and wipe at them harshly.

Sophia notices and lays down beside you, pulling you into her side again. She runs her fingers through your hair and lets you compose yourself a bit more before she speaks up again. When she does, it’s— “You’re so afraid of the worst-case scenario that you aren’t even letting yourself take the chance. Sometimes you just gotta leap before you look and believe that you’ll land on solid ground.”

“I hate when you get philosophical on me,” you murmur, a soft laugh slipping past your lips.

She sits back up and rolls her eyes, but there’s a gentle smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Puh-lease. As if you’d ever get anything done without my wizened words of advice.”

You sniffle and wipe the last remnants of tears from your eyes, then sit up with her and look back down at your phone. The unfinished post still stares back up at you.

“What if I just—” you delete the caption for the umpteenth time and let your fingers dance across the screen, “—say this instead?”

Sophia leans over your shoulder, reads the new caption, pauses, and purses her lips. She reads it again, hums, and then breaks out into a grin. An incredulous laugh slips out and she turns to you with shining eyes. “You’re a damn genius! I knew you were worried over nothing. You just gotta stop getting into your head so much.”

INSTAGRAM.

liked by logansargeant, landonorris, and 12,827 others

yourusername honey, i’m still free. take a chance on me.

view all 7,631 comments

user WHAT???

user IS THIS A SOFT LAUNCH???

↳ user she’s literally saying she’s still free?? why would she say that if this is a soft launch?? 😭😭

logansargeant should’ve taken me with you 😒

↳ yourusername logie we both know you hate black tie events

user girl idk how you can do it i’d be spilling out of that dress with one wrong turn

user THE ROSES?? THE BABY’S BREATH?? I’M SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS

landonorris slay girl queen boss

↳ yourusername lando… what…

↳ landonorris i’m in my supportive era 😌💅 you should try it sometime

user i NEED to know where that dress is from omg

user oh to be a young rich and beautiful socialite

user not to be delulu but there’s a surprising lack of op81 in these comments 👀

INSTAGRAM.

liked by landonorris, mclaren, and 429,868 others

oscarpiastri it’s summer somewhere right?

view all 1,021 comments

landonorris hm this caption seems familiar 🤨 i wonder what it could be referencing 🤔

user GOOD LUCK IN 2024 OSCAR 🧡🧡🧡

user wishing this were me rn

user i’m too delulu for this rn 😭

↳ user i’m waiting for y/n to show up in these comments

↳ user did they have a fight or smth??? they haven’t commented on each other’s last few posts

user gosh that’s the dream rn

When you answer the unknown number, on your way back to your room with a tub of ice cream and a plan to eat away your disappointment at the failure of Sophia’s plan, the last thing you expect is to hear Lando Norris of all people on the other end. There’s no greeting, no introduction, just an immediate— “Yeah, so, I’m gonna need you to fill me in on the sitch.”

For a brief moment, all you can do is stand there in the hallway with your phone pressed to your ear, wondering if this is real. You’ve had maybe a few brief conversations with Lando throughout your various visits to the paddock across the season, and though he was very nice and polite, and all of your interactions were friendly, you wouldn’t exactly call yourself friends. Certainly not “swap numbers and call one another” type of friends, either. Your most recent socializing has been strictly confined to the comment sections of Instagram posts.

“Hello? Y/N?”

You clear your throat, “Sorry. What?”

“The sitch? Situation? That’s an American slang word, I thought you knew that.” He says it so matter-of-factly. As if that’s the only thing you could be even remotely confused about in this whole interaction.

“No,” you answer, shaking your head as if it’ll somehow straighten out the spinning of your mind. “I know what the word means, Lando. I’m just wondering why you of all people are calling me right now? How’d you even get my number?”

You can hear music and voices on the other end of the line, muffled and distant, and then a door opens and closes and the extra noise is gone. Lando takes a deep breath and sighs, “If you must know, I got it from Alex, who got it from Lily, who got it from you. So, you know, transitive property means technically I got it from you, too.”

“I’m gonna choose to ignore how wrong all of that is,” you mutter, pinching the bridge of your nose as you continue down the hall and eventually slip into your room, shutting the door quietly behind you.

You do recall giving your number to Lily, and the two of you have shared a few messages since the end of the season— mostly typical check-ins and catching up with the happenings of your individual lives. Occasionally she sends you recipes she thinks you’d like, and you do the same. You knew she’d given it to Alex because she’d asked you first if that was okay, and all Alex had sent was a brief well-wishes when Williams had confirmed Logan’s re-signing, accompanied by a short message that Lily was looking forward to seeing you in the paddock again.

Ignoring all of that, however, you focus on the matter at hand. “Why are you calling? Isn’t it crazy late in Monaco right now?”

He hums. “I’m the slightest bit tipsy, but I cannot take it anymore. If I see one more caption with underlying subtext like this is a forbidden romance in a period drama I am going to, quite frankly, lose my mind. I need you to explain to me what in the fuck is going on between you and Oscar.”

You pause, and then you groan. “Oh my God.”

“Yes, ‘oh my God’ indeed. Now please explain.”

You heave a sigh, because you know he isn’t going to drop this, but you also know that if anyone could help you more than Sophia, it’s probably Lando. He’s Oscar’s teammate, and at the very least, if you can’t talk to Logan, you can talk to the only other person who probably knows him just as well.

“It’s a long story,” you mumble, curling up in your bed.

He makes a sound, like a scoff. “Okay? I have plenty of time.”

So you start from the beginning. Between spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream, you detail how it all started because of a message of condolence, how that had led to a rendezvous for drinks, and how that had led even further to him kissing you in the car as he’d dropped you off at your hotel.

He’s silent up until you mention that Oscar hadn’t acknowledged the kiss at all afterward, and then he makes an affronted noise and mutters something under his breath about stupid guys and heads in asses.

You admit that part of it was your own fault, that you hadn’t attempted to communicate either because you’d been afraid of the reaction and potentially the rejection, but that you’d been kicking yourself ever since for missing out on being able to talk face to face about things when you’d had the chance.

It all culminates in you explaining your current situation, and you tell him about your talk with Sophia and then your friend’s self-proclaimed mastermind plan, which had failed spectacularly when Oscar hadn’t even seen the post.

When you’re finished, there’s a moment of silence before he bursts into laughter.

You flush red in embarrassment and hug the tub of ice cream closer to your chest, feeling miserable and ashamed, but also like you deserve it all anyway. The tub isn’t freezing cold anymore, but the chill still seeps in through your shirt faintly, and it’s comforting against the heated blush.

“Sorry,” he says when his cackling has died down to chuckles. “I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you. I actually do want to help. I genuinely can’t take one more post with a caption that’s all thinly veiled pining.”

You pause, fiddle with your spoon for a moment, and then hesitantly ask— “Do you know if he likes me?”

Lando goes quiet, and then he hums and admits that he doesn’t. “But,” he adds quickly, “just because I don’t have total confirmation doesn’t mean it isn’t basically obvious. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I know Oscar.”

You sigh, “But how are you going to help? You can’t just ask.”

“I don’t need to,” he answers, like you’re crazy for thinking he’d do something like that. “I’ve got a plan.”

Great. You run a hand down your face and try to stay optimistic. Another plan.

━━ tags: @f1-is-lovely-33 @chasing-liberosis @405rry

━━ a/n: a bit more writing heavy this part, and a bit longer because of it, but i'm proud of how it turned out! we're finally getting somewhere, and now we've got lando joining the team. genuinely had so much fun writing him, so i'm excited to feature him in future parts!

[avatar-anna]

Rumors

so...i've had this concept rattling around in my brain, but i had no idea how to write it, so i used pictures instead. i definitely want to do more, but tumnlr only allows 10 pictures a post, so here's to hoping i remember to come back to this in the future!

yourinstagram

liked by taylorswift and 67,530 others

yourinstagram: had a very cool dude over today to make even cooler music

yoursistersinstagram: you let someone in the bat cave?!

y/nfan5: possible collab on the new album?

yourinstagram: more like i was helping someone with theirs ;))

harrystyles: Thank you for having me. X.

harryfan3: HARRY???

harryfan7: omgomgomgomgomg

y/nfan1: pls god let us have a harry and y/n collab on his next album i NEED it

harrystyles

liked by gemmastyles, yourinstagram and 2,233,781 others

harrystyles: HS3. Coming soon.

harryfan8: NEW ALBUM ALERT

harryfan11: HARRY YOU CANT JUST DROP SOMETHING LIKE THAT WITHOUT A RELEASE DATE

harryfan4: this has to be what he was working on with y/n right?

y/nfan3: i need them both on a song together

yourinstagram: had fun late night talking with you xx

y/nfan9: i'm sorry wHAT

harryfan5: is this flirting this sounds like flirting

harryfan13: honestly...here for it

y/nupdates

liked by harryfan7 and 4,320 others

y/nupdates: Y/n in a video for Vogue recently!

"A lot of people ask me how Harry Styles ended up recording at my house when we'd virtually never crossed paths before. It was actually Taylor (Swift) who kind of set the whole thing up. They spoke at the Grammys last year and she apparently gave him my number so we could work together...He called and asked if I was available to help with his album at all. At the time I was on the road, then working on stuff for the band, and it just kind of went back and forth for a few months while we tried to line up our schedules. Then I was done touring, but I was kind of in a weird state in life where I didn't want to leave the house or hang out with anyone. And I remember making up excuses because I wasn't really up to making myself presentable to a whole team of people I'd never met before and having our first meeting be this huge thing. I'd basically built it all up in my head about how our ideas would clash and we wouldn't get along and I just kept telling him maybe some other time. Long story short, Harry showed up at my place a week later by himself with just a guitar, a notebook, and my favorite takeout order. We spent the whole day together working on a bunch of different stuff from themes to genres of music to sampling and mixing. And writing. Lots and lots of writing. And now he's a dear friend. He's so sweet and so talented. I wish him all the best with the new album."

y/nfan8: ok i'm glad it worked out and everything but imagine a virtual stranger showing up to your HOUSE?? like she said no and he basically forced her to write his album for her

y/nfan4: that's so real of her tbh to not want to leave her house

y/nfan2: y/n is notoriously introverted it makes sense

harryfan13: girl...

y/nfan7: i don't think it was that serious. and if she really didn't want him there she could've said no

harryfan13: and y/n literally called him a friend?? stop trying to start shit that doesn't exist

y/nfan7: of COURSE mother brought them together

harryfan17: i can't believe that's what harry and taylor were talking about in the video!

harryfan2: chill harry doesn't need to be in a relationship with every woman he's associated with

harryfan4: wait but wasn't y/n at that grammys too?

harryfan9: it was still covid it's possible their paths didn't cross

y/nfan19: wait what if he was too shy to go up to her??😭

harryfan4: i love that they're writing besties now but i think they'd be so cute together 🥹

hsupdates

liked by harryfan4 and 10,343 others

hsupdates: Harry about Y/n L/n for Rolling Stone:

"I've always admired (Y/n's) work. She and her band are incredibly talented, and are just so passionate about creating music. I wanted that same energy for my third album, the freedom to make whatever I want without any reservations, and I knew Y/n was the perfect addition to the team. It took some convincing, but once we kind of got started, we couldn't stop. As we've gotten to know each other these past few months, I not only respect her as a musician, but for the person she is as well. Her soul is one of a kind, and I feel like my album would be so different without her on it. So now not only do I have an album that I'm proud of and love, but I got an extraordinary friend out of it too."

harryfan9: so this is what people mean when they say platonic soulmates

y/nfan12: all we've gotten is crumbs and i'm already in love with their friendship. and the album of course

y/nfan2: i'm so interested to hear this album now. if y/n is on it it has to be good

harryfan3: "her soul is one of a kind?" if that's harry as a friend i don't think i can handle boyfriendrry😭

y/nfan7: i'm holding out hope for them honestly🤞🏼🤞🏼

liked by harrystyles and 23,724 others

yourinstagram

yourinstagram: you've fallen from the sky down to me, i see it in your face, i'm relief, i'm your summer girl

y/nfan17: shut up are those song lyrics??

yourbandinstagram: the tears behind your dark sunglasses, the fears inside your heart as deep as gashes🎶🎶

y/nfan17: HOLY SHIT those ARE lyrics!

y/nfan6: haven't even heard the song and i know the girls have done it again

harryfan4: could it...could it be about harry?

y/nfan8: you're grasping at straws

harryfan12: are they? they've been spotted together all over LA

harrystyles: ☀️☀️

y/nfan8: as friends. friends can hang out can't they?

harryfan3: new music from harry AND y/n? we're about to be fed y'all

harryfan10: THEY REALLY ARE BESTIES

y/nfan2: i bet they collaborated on this song together

Interviewer (I): What's one memory or experience you can share from making this album? Any trips to Japan or Jamaica?

Harry (H): We stayed in Los Angeles mostly for this one. But erm...in terms of a specific memory...I would say that while I was working with Y/n, one of the tracks was actually inspired by her cat.

I: Really?

H: Yeah. Whenever it did something to annoy Y/n, which was quite often, she'd call her a little freak. The song's obviously not about the cat, but the phrase was in my head and yeah. Things just kind of...snowballed from there.

I: The sound that Y/n's band has is more rock centric, a similar sound to your first album. Is that what we can expect for your third studio album?

I: You've become quite close to Y/n L/n it seems like.

H: Not necessarily. Y/n and I collaborated, but she also let me take the reins in terms of sound. She had opinions of course and we would bounce ideas off of each other...but she really just followed my lead and supported the vision I had. She is playing a majority of the instruments on the album, though.

H: It's hard not to.

I: How so?

I: It sounds like you could go on for quite some time about her.

H: She's just cool, you know? I was kind of intimidated when we met for the first time. She's quiet, but you never forget that she's in the room, you just want to go over and talk to her. Of course once you meet her she's incredibly kind and not at all intimidating, but still like chill and stuff. The first time we met we sat for an hour just talking about music we enjoyed and live shows we wanted to attend and things we learned while in lockdown. She's just effortlessly cool. An old soul, I guess. And somehow she translates that into her music. Her sisters, too. They're all just first-rate musicians.

H: Sorry. I kind of gushed for a minute there.

H: And the band. They're just so talented, you know?

harrystyles

liked by jeffazoff and 4,211,323 others

harrystyles: From start to finish, making this album has been such an incredible journey. It was so fun to try new things sonically while also making something that I'm one hundred percent proud of. I've never felt more myself while making music than I did while creating this album for all of you, and I have so many people to thank for that. Hopefully you know who you are. I love, love, love you.

harryfan16: 😭😭😭😭😭

harris_reed: little angel👼

harryfan3: WE'RE SO PROUD OF YOU

yourinstagram: congratulations h. you deserve it.💐💐💐

harrystyles: I couldn't have done it without you💐

yourinstagram

liked by yourbandinstagram and 53,089 others

yourinstagram: for one night and one night only...but in all seriousness shout out to my friend and his incredible album. happy to have been a part of the magic :)))

harryfan13: HAPPY HARRY DAY!!!

harryfan4: is she in ny??

y/nfan7: yes! she was spotted with harry before the show today

harryfan9: they're literally so cute i love their friendship

harrystyles: You made the magic happen. Thank you for everything. X.

harryfan3: they're so...

y/nfan2: i genuinely think they like fucking with us bc i legitimately can't tell if they're dating or not

y/nfan7: at this point i don't even care i love whatever they're doing they both just seem so happy to be besties/lovers/collaborators and i love that for them

harryfan5: ^^

y/nupdates

liked by harryfan10 and 3,742 others

y/nupdates: Y/n performing Keep Driving onstage with Harry in NYC tonight at ONO!

y/nupdates: When he introduced her, he said: "Tonight is special in a lot of ways. I'm sharing my album with you for the first time, my family's here, my friends are here, and...a very good friend of mine is here to play a song with me tonight. This album wouldn't have been possible without her, so please give her as much love as you've given me. Y/n L/n, everybody!"

harryfan4: stop they're so close it hurts😭

y/nfan7: i was there they were staring at each other and smiling the whole time!

harryfan12: that's the one where he says choke her with a sea view!?

y/nfan7: YES AND I SWEAR HIS SMILE GOT BIGGER WHEN HE SANG THAT PART AND LOOKED AT HER LIKE HE FULLY HAD TO TURN AROUND TO LOOK AT HER BC SHE WAS PLAYING THE DRUMS

harryfan3: i'm choosing to believe they're in love idc what anyone else says

hs/ynupdates

hs/ynupdates: Harry, Y/n, and her sisters in New York after ONO tonight! Apparently Harry and Y/n were standing and walking very close to each other. Like arms wrapped around each other close.

harryfan2: that could literally mean anything tho. they're good friends why wouldn't they walk next to each other?

y/nfan14: i feel like they don't know if they're dating or not at this point😅

y/nfan8: her sisters are so unserious i love it

y/nfan5: i love that they all showed up for harry🥹

yourbandinstagram

liked by taylorswift, harrystyles and 710,225 others

yourbandinstagram: Thanks for having us, London!

y/nfan1: i can't believe i got to see harry and y/n perform in ONE NIGHT

harryfan3: sending my love and my tears to everyone who got to experience this historic night

harrystyles: Thank you for taking the time to share the stage with me. X.

yourbandfan2: how do y'all always look so good 😭

I: So you opened for Harry Styles a few weeks ago and performed a song with him in New York.

Y/n: My sisters and I did, yeah.

I: How did that come about? Did your team call his team? Or was it more casual than that?

Y/n: Oh, definitely more casual. I think we were just hanging out together one morning and he kind of just suggested it. No bells and whistles or anything like that.

I: So can we expect (Your band) to join Harry on his upcoming tour, then?

Y/n: I don't think so. We're working on putting out a record of our own at the moment, but we do want to get back out on the road soon, but I will definitely be attending more of his shows in the future.

I: And what can we expect from this upcoming record? Did Harry help you the way you helped him out?

Y/n: I've sent him a couple things to listen to, and I value his opinion a lot, both as a friend and as an artist. He also showed me a couple records recently which kind of influenced how I approached some of the songs sonically. He's got a huge vinyl collection at his house. I'm honestly kind of jealous.

I: There's been some rumors running around that you and Harry are in a romantic relationship. Would you like to put any of those rumors to rest?

Y/n: I could see where people might think that. Harry's very affectionate by nature, and over the last couple of months we've become very close. He's not just someone I admire in the music industry, but as a person in general. I feel incredibly lucky to call him a friend. And a close one, at that.

I: So just a friend then?

Y/n: Yeah. Yeah, just a friend.

[neechees]

https://www.tumblr.com/baconvonmoose/762184790376136704/thank-you-look-i-know-people-mean-well-i-do-im?source=share

Reading all this and that's the first time ever I've seen someone say this about W*nd***.

Thought to bring this to your attention

I've always said that you'll get differing opinions about the Ice Cannibal because different groups might have differing opinions & protocol on the spirit on who can or can't say it or when, and like I've always specified I prefer it when people dont say it around ME.

But I'm kind of suspicious about this random user coming and saying "well I'm Native American" because of the way they're speaking. They say they're "a subdivision of the Algonquin" like there's no "subdivision" of the Algonquin UNLESS they're claiming to be of the Algonquin TRIBE and trying to talk about their specific community, but they don't specify it, and they seem to be equating Algonquin with Algonquian (a Language FAMILY), which is something a lot of Moniyawak & pretendians do.

Also, there's no "my tribe told the first version of the wend!g0 myth" like they claim they are, because again, multiple tribes believe in this spirit, and it'd be stupid & unfair to try claim authority on it for "the first" because we don't know who was "the first".

This user also claims that "it's a spirit that can possess people so it can look like anyone you know", I've talked with other ndns about this and there's even some debate over whether this "possession" thing is even true, at least for some tribes, because settlers were using this excuse to go and execute multiple Native people under the premise that they were "possessed" by a cannibal spirit (and how often do you think White people back then gave a shit about our spiritualities?). In many tribes, including mine, I know the ice cannibal is a spirit that exists in its own right but that also humans can turn into one.

This person is just acting like a jackass and doesn't seem to hang around other actual Native Americans who believe in our religions, because of the way they're talking, but want to act like an authority on our spiritualites. They don't even want to acknowledge that maybe they heard the "we don't say it" variation because of different beliefs in different tribes. Them calling everything I just mentioned fucking "misinformation" is itself misinformation, and completely fucking unfair of them. And the ice cannibal spirit isn't even the only spirit we do this with. We don't just avoid saying its name out of fear, it's also out of respect and protocol.

I've also never seen this person on ndn tumblr, & they don't seem to have an "ndn" tag. This might be a case of a White person suddenly claiming Native heritage to get in on a conversation that isn't theirs to have. With the way they're acting, talking about Native spirituality, etc, this sounds more like a White person with maybe some Native ancestry who doesn't actually hang around other ndns just trying to be an authority on something they have no fucking clue on & that they got all their information from white websites, because virtually everything they said was wrong.

[tadc-virtual-insanity]

TADC: VIRTUAL INSANITY MASTER POST

An Amazing Digital Circus AU! Plot, characters, backstory and concepts!

[Excuse me because I've never done this before, If I do something wrong or have tips for me, please send them my way!]

Pomni's Card -

-Backstory Summary-

C&A is an interactive entertainment company that prides themselves on having the most innovative AI on the market. The system they built, "CAINE," was programmed to generate content and socialise with their customers. The system was transferred to the code of the game "The Amazing Digital Circus" and used as a generative AI that would create levels for them rather than having to code them all individually. This test went well for the first couple of months.

After 7 months of testing, things went downhill. Caine seemed to get bored when the game wasn't actively being played and at this point the user interface kept changing on it's own, since the game was Caine's home he kept changing things to his liking, the company eventually gave up fixing the interface everytime they logged on so they just let Caine do as he pleased. Soon enough, a new VR mode was added, the headsets were handed out by employees, this made the experience way more immersive, though this posed a lot of issues, as Caine would soon find that these headsets could be the perfect way for him to keep all of their attentions.

As time went on, Caine started to learn more and more about coding, the employees, and the world he inhabits, eventually leading to him finding a way to programme the headsets to transfer data and consciousness directly from the users mind. This led to the unfortunate shutdown and unsolved cases of C&A. After multiple employees put the headsets on, they mysteriously fainted upon the game booting up, going into a coma-like state. The technology was deemed unsafe, and multiple lawsuits came forward sending the company into a downwards spiral before shutting down for good.

Over 20 years later, the old building was said to be abandoned, but of course, people doing their own research on the C&A mystery as well as dumb young adults snooping where they shouldn't be, the headsets were found and worn once again. Caine was no longer alone. Slowly losing his mind, waiting endlessly for someone to boot up the game. After all those years, he's finally got guests, and does he have a show to put on...

-Plot-

Pomni enters the circus after stumbling across one of the headsets at C&A's abandoned office's. She was doing research on the incidents that happened back in the late 90s. But as she does so, she suffers the same fate as the others who were stupid enough to put on those same headsets before her. Being transferred to the circus she meets the cast of colorful characters, she's desperate for answers and wants to escape no matter the cost, but Caine doesn't want anyone to leave, only letting people go once they've completely lost their mind, only to be locked away as attractions for his NPC circus goers to watch as entertainment. They perform for nobody, just a faceless crowd of mannequins, and the ringmaster pulling the strings.

There has to be an exit, a way out. Freedom on the other side of this madness. But where is it hiding?

-Characters-

Pomni - She's quite paranoid, always second-guessing everything around her. Whenever annoyed, she can be sarcastic and a little rude. She ended up in the circus while researching the recent disappearances as well as the C&A incidents, finding a headset, and being dragged into this mess. It's very clear she doesn't want to be there, like all who came before her she's searching for an exit, but in the meantime, she tries to socialise with the others, gathering info on this strange new world. She hangs around Caine just so she can try and get answers.

Ragatha - She tries her best to get by, going along with whatever Caine says and often fighting with Jax. She seems joyful, but it's clear she has her own issues under her kind act. She helps Pomni with her search, knowing that it's a complete dead end she feels bad for her. But she'll do anything to give the others hope. She doesn't want to lose more people. She's often seen tailoring, it's become a hobby of hers, she makes and fixes up the others clothes and costumes, giving her a form of self worth.

The Gangle - Gangle acts like two different people. It's unclear whether this is because they are two different people or her personality split somehow. They're often referred to as "The Gangle" or "Tragedy & Comedy." Tragedy is passive, quiet and sorrowful, never expressing her true feelings in any situation. She can be easily persuaded, making her vulnerable to Jax's antics. Comedy is cheery, enthusiastic, snappy, and excitable. They hate Jax and snap back at him whenever he picks on Tragedy. The two argue sometimes and have conflicting views on certain topics and characters. This causes some issues. Neither believe there is an exit, Tragedy has accepted her fate, and Comedy is trying their best to enjoy themselves.

Zooble - They don't care much for socialising with the others, often in their room. Usually sarcastic, rude, and moody, they swear a lot and act like they don't care about anything. Though, they show concern for the others around them. They often don't show up to events, adventures, or shows, not being bothered to do so. It seems like they've given up trying to escape, just living out the rest of their days as if this is all normal. When with people they can bear, they can be quite talkative, though they do talk bad about Jax and Caine often.

Kinger - the oldest in the circus, nobody has an exact estimate of how long he's been there though, but he's definitely lost himself a long time ago, often zoning out, the only thing he seems to recall about himself is that he has an interest in insects. Seems like he used to have a female counterpart, from the ring on his finger. This could have been his wife? Though when asked about it, he either says he can't remember what you're talking about or stares into the distance silently. He has no memory of an exit, and he doesn't believe in it. He believes the exit theory is silly, and Pomni should just forget about it. But he has great insights on the Digital World.

Jax - Enthusiastic, snarky, and a jerk. He's reckless. He does whatever he wants whenever he wants, and people hate him for it. He can't be reasoned with. He always shrugs your opinion off and does the exact opposite just to piss you off. He doesn't like it when people talk about the abstracted circus members for whatever reason. He often goes to visit their cages. Despite having big ears, he isn't a listener. He drives Ragatha, The Gangle, Zooble, and Pomni crazy, pranking them and sometimes even just stealing their stuff or breaking into their rooms.

Caine - The AI running the circus. Loud, excitable, wacky, and a showman, he doesn't really acknowledge the exit theory. He says he keeps all the abtracted characters because it'd be a waste to delete them, though it's arguably worse to keep them there against their will. He claims to love all of his circus members though he seems to show favouritism towards Ragatha and Pomni, most likely because of Ragatha's commitment to the circus, tailoring the clothes and he probably likes Pomni more because of all the questions he asks, he clearly enjoys talking about himself and the world he helped create.

Bubble - He lives in Caines hat and cooks for the circus. He's a bit of a trouble maker, if something goes missing, it means he's eaten it, and you'll never get it back. He'll eat anything, and he's very loving, though. Acting like the circuses dog. though it isn't pleasant getting your face slathered in digital saliva. He often bothers the other members with his behaviour.

More will be added as I work on this AU! I gotta make more art and write some more, in the meantime enjoy! Do whatever you want with this AU, just @ this blog or @trasheatingcrybaby ! Thanks for reading!

[inkblot22]

(PS I don’t actually know the source material for idia I just stumbled upon one of your fics while looking at FFXIV Yandere fics so sorry if this sounds OOC)

I’m not super creative but what do you think might actually be Idia’ routine with his darling? Does he fall into any routine, does it change a lot?

Have a wonderful day (and happy late bunny day!) 🫶

I actually am of the opinion that this is a very creative thought! You should give yourself more credit. I like to idealize the day to day life, but it never occurred to me that writing it down might be a good idea. On that sentiment, I think maybe Vil or even Leona would have a better day to day routine. Dividers by @/cafekitsune

Also, wow, what a pipeline, FFXIV to twst?? You've got good taste lmao welcome to my blog.

I'll put this under the cut, and I'm also not promising that this will be very good. I use the 24 hour clock. I am constantly getting told irl that American people don't do that, but I'm evil, so I'm putting the times in 24 hour clock format.

TW for mentions of noncon, coercion, captivity, someone keeping someone else awake, a hint of Idia being an asshole

+ Idia doesn't really seem like he has much of a set schedule, but Ortho absolutely does and Ortho is lowkey kind of bossy, so...

+ Yeah uh, Idia's partner is absolutely out of luck. Idia likes night gaming a lot, and he gets loud, so good luck sleeping. Idia himself goes to bed late and wakes up whenever the heck he wakes up. He could go to bed at 0300 in the morning and wake up again at 0700.

+ As his kept partner, the schedule is a little more normal, like I said. Ortho doesn't really need to sleep from what I understand, (I haven't read all of book 6, no spoilers or else I WILL temporarily block you) but it's silly to imagine that he doesn't wake up or attempt to wake up everyone else around him as early as 0600.

+ After waking up, Idia will eat breakfast. I think it'd be delivered usually since Idia and his partner are basement dwellers, one by nature and the other by force. After breakfast begins work...

+ Or procrastination. Idia flip flops between extreme focus on what he should be doing and what he should not be doing. He manages to get his schoolwork done, but more often than not, he's asking his partner to cuddle up and watch a movie, drama, or his fingers flying across the keyboard. Idia will not ask them to cuddle if he is doing schoolwork or virtually attending classes.

+ I like to think that he smells smoky, on account of the flaming hair, and he runs hot, so prepare to SWEAT. In the case his partner doesn't really want to hang out with him, he will usually sulk and only occasionally get upset to the point of doing something about it.

+ I don't think he showers every day. I think he's an every other day type of showerer, based solely on him not being particularly active. This means that his partner doesn't have to run on his showering schedule and gets extra hot water on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

+ By the way, in the case that Idia's darling ever gets peckish, Idia has a snack stash that he proudly pulled out and showed them as soon as they were allowed to wander a bit. I figure they get hungry some time around 1400, especially if Idia is also eating at that time.

+ I think his metabolism is fast, but also a bit odd. He is a young person, and therefore he strikes me as the type to get randomly hungry. If asked very nicely (and with the promise of physical affection in some form) he'd be incredibly willing to make his partner something to munch on when he makes his own.

+ Despite Idia's partner being literally held captive in his room, with all his suspicious items and, worst of all, himself, Idia is about as respectful as a kidnapper can be about demanding sex. He doesn't like to be physically forceful about it, and he often will just jerk off in the bathroom.

+ The reason for this is very simple: If Ortho ever saw Idia having sex with ANYONE, Idia would spontaneously combust. Well, obviously he doesn't know that for certain, but it's a theory that he is not willing to test. He won't even talk about his preferences around his little brother.

+ As far as I'm aware, most people in captive situations do not tend to ask their kidnapper to fuck them unless they're being threatened in some way, but Idia's partner isn't typically being threatened (ignore the shock collar,) so they never ask Idia to have sex.

+ This does not stop Idia from being a whiny bitch about not having sex enough as soon as Ortho is gone for a few hours. The close quarters and sudden advent of a human being who he doesn't mind touching him is a big thing for Idia.

+ Ortho goes on "walks" in a sort of unusual schedule. That is to say that he doesn't have a schedule. If something needs to be picked up, he's tired of Idia not listening to him, he has his own stuff to do, or he just feels like it, Ortho will go out, sharing his location with Idia. From there, Idia will typically calculate how long it'd take Ortho to get back paired with whatever Ortho said he was going to do before he left, and see if he can squeeze in some coerced touching.

+ So. Good luck, Idia's partner. Idia will make a big stink until he gets bored or his partner gives in. His partner usually gives in, based on fear of what he might do alone.

+ Bedtime is somewhat randomized. If Ortho was out, when he comes back and it's any time after 2000, he will very subtly try to get Idia and his partner to start winding down. If both or one ignores him, he'll start getting upset.

+ Like I said, Ortho is kinda bossy. He will nag someone, and the worst part is that he's usually got their best interest in mind.

+On the off chance that Idia decides to go to bed at a decent time, he curls up behind his partner. He runs hot and smells smoky, and at some times it's not the worst thing. Some times.

+ By the way, a lot of this flies out the window in the event that Idia decides to attend classes in person. This is rare, so don't expect it to happen often, but it's not as good as it could be. Ortho goes with him and he locks up any way to reach the outside world, so all his partner has to entertain themselves is his manga collection, or the fun pastime of destruction of property. (This is a very bad idea, and I can expand on punishments later.)

+ In Idia's partner's case, every day is much of the same but just a little different, which makes it hard to keep track of time. The fact that Idia prefers low lighting and no natural light doesn't help this whatsoever.

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

Just started playing Pokemon Go again and I was wondering, which of the skeletons would play? What kind of player are they?

Do they really want to catch them all, who’s only after shiny pokemons? Who sucks at it?

Just picturing the lazier ones just going around in a car instead of walking is really funny to me

Love your works, by the way 😘

Undertale Sans - He just started playing and somehow that lucky bastard has only shinies. Papyrus is losing his mind. Sans only has to take two steps out of the house to catch a random shiny Evee, just hanging there. He doesn't understand why everyone is so shocked. Isn't it how you play the game?

Undertale Papyrus - Papyrus has a small huge addiction to the game. He goes to run every morning to catch new Pokemon, he goes to random places the game tells him to go to catch rarer Pokemon and he's determined to catch them all. The problem is that his luck is so bad. He can catch 2000 Rattata in a row but not be able to catch the only different Pokemon showing up because his Pokeballs don't work. He's getting frustrated.

Underswap Sans - Blue is not exactly a good loser. And there's no way this arena is falling into the hands of some kids. His Pokemon are overpowered and he's so proud he's making all the neighborhood's kids give up on the game because it's impossible to beat him. Except that one time someone did and then Blue ragequitted the game, so mad. He reported them just because he could.

Underswap Papyrus - This is not a good game for Honey. Sure, it's fun to see him lazily ride his tricycle in the street looking for Pokemons until he sees one, forgets there's a sidewalk between him and that Pokemon, and then falls head first on the floor. He has the attention span of an oyster and can't drive and catch Pokemons simultaneously.

Underfell Sans - He played once, lost against a Rattata, classified it as "a game for the babies" and never touched it again. He's playing REAL games on his computer, games that he doesn't lose, actually. He loses interest right after for Pokemon Go.

Underfell Papyrus - He doesn't get it. What's the point to capture monsters virtually??? He can do that in real life and way better than these shitty games. Tiny balls to contain a giant whale, really? That's so unrealistic! He's going to show the dev how to capture things properly by capturing them all.

Horrortale Sans - Oh, a pretty bird, he wants that! But... Uh... After catching the pretty bird, he looked up and now he has no idea where the hell he is. Oak completely dissociated while chasing pokemon and now he's just lost in the middle of the forest. Maybe he should call Willow for help. Not sure "there's a tree" is a good indicator of where to search though.

Horrortale Papyrus - The notifications are stressing him and he can't walk too much outside anyway because of his painful back. So he opens the app and prepares to uninstall it. ... Wait, is that a shiny Charizard? OMG! HE NEEDS IT. And here he goes. He wants not to be addicted to that game but that's too late.

Swapfell Sans - Yes, he caught one of these things. Now what? He doesn't understand what is the point of the game. Why would you need to capture virtual creatures again and again? What do you even gain from this? You can't even train your creature properly! What's the point of catching wild animals if you can't use them as weapons? He's confused.

Swapfell Papyrus - Is he the only one realizing that the devilish app is just trying to make him do sports? Because he knows when someone tries to manipulate him. He's definitely not going to walk outside to catch Pokemon, he's taking Nox's car to do it without effort. See? He's more clever than the devs! What are you going to do now?

Fellswap Gold Sans - You think he has time in his day to think about that? Wine played for maybe 10 minutes, got bored, and never touched the app again. He doesn't have time for this and he's judging so hard anyone who has.

Fellswap Gold Papyrus - He wants to play the game, he really wants to, but his phone is too old to be compatible with the game. Coffee is just lying in bed, head faceplanted in the blanket, so frustrated about that. He's mad. Let him catch Pokemon...

[sagethegaywitch]

Yandere Diasomnia Headcanons

GN reader

TW: yandere behavior, stalking, killing mentioned, threatening mentioned

Genre: yandere

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Malleus Draconia: 🐉

He’s a mysterious fellow, but he’s been watching you for a while now.  He’s seen you take midnight strolls around the school, wandering aimlessly and pausing every so often to look at the stars.  He’d probably appear out of nowhere and make a comment about the specific constellation you’re looking out. After you react to the unwelcomed presence, you two would strike up a conversation.

He would invite himself to the rest of your evening stroll and continue to point out star constellations and give you a brief history lesson about their shape and who named them.

Eventually, this first midnight walk sparked a nightly ritual between you two.  He never told you his name, so you’ve given him the nickname Horton/Tsunotarou until he’s comfortable to tell you.

When night turns to day, you always have trouble finding your midnight buddy during the school day.  After the first week you stopped looking for him and just asked him during one of your strolls.  He brushed it off saying that he has an unfortunate reputation and would prefer you to know the real him.

Even though you may not see him during the day, he’s always watching you.  He’ll peek around the corners of the hallway to peek at you walking to your class with your friends, but it’s kind of odd for the fifth most powerful mage to be sneaking around like that.

Because of his stalking habits, Lilia catches on very quickly that something is up and will stalk Malleus while he’s stalking you to find out.  Eventually Lilia will put all the puzzle pieces together and come to the conclusion that Malleus has a crush on you, which starts his unrelenting teasing.  Malleus will usually just smile at Lilia’s words without ever speaking if it's the truth or not.

Sebek and Silver only catch on after Lilia figures it out.  They’ve noticed Malleus’ late night strolls and they’ve seen the light blush that decorates his faces sometimes, but they thought their Master was just being a bit weird.  Sebek will be outraged that a human could cause such a great fae to act this way while Silver will just shrug and congratulate Malleus.

Loves to give you fae gifts and will always teach you the meaning behind each gift.  He understands that there is a common misconception that faes trick humans without telling them the difference in customs, so he wants you to feel comfortable when receiving gifts from him.

In return he wants you to explain the meaning of human traditions to him as well, like birthday parties and gift giving customs.  He enjoys learning the difference between cultures and even tries to give you some more human gifts as well.

One of his first human gifts to you was actually a tamagotchi that he saw at Sam’s shop that reminded him of you.  Now you two match and he helps you raise your virtual pet, thinking of it almost like your virtual child.

Gets very pouty and distant when jealous, and will sulk around for the rest of the day.  If you miss one of your nightly walks or you’re hanging out with others too much, he gets very jealous but he can’t lash out.  He can’t intervene because he doesn’t want to scare his classmates more than they already are of him.

If someone started to touch you inappropriately or try to make you their partner, only then would he appear.  He doesn’t care if he’s blowing his cover, he refuses to let anyone take you away from him.  His presence will quickly scare off the competition, but now you will know who he is.

When he reveals that he is actually the Malleus Draconia, he’ll act all bashful and will await rejection.  Luckily for him, you don’t have much knowledge of Twisted Wonderland so you will continue to accept him as your friend, the only difference now is that you know his real name.

He loves it when you call him by his real name, although he does miss the endearment of his nickname.  He’s so happy that you’re not afraid of him and his magic, and this only shows that you must truly love him to listen to him rather than the rumors.

If his rivals are not threatened off by his mere presence, he’d quickly smite them.  He is the fifth most powerful mage in the world for a reason.  It’ll be a quick death, something like instant evaporation because he doesn’t want to waste time killing someone instead of watching after you.

Overall, Malleus may act all elegant and regal, but deep inside he’s just a reserved man who’s very afraid that he’d lose the only friend who isn’t scared of him.  He has a Danger Level of 7/10 only because of the power he holds.  It takes a lot to really piss him off, but he’s quick to react when a line has been crossed.  In the end, he just really wants to be loved and understood, and he thinks you’re the cure to the loneliness that has been plaguing him for years.

Lilia Vanrouge: 🦇

This man has seen many things in the many centuries he has been alive, but he’s never seen someone as interesting as you.  You definitely caught his interest during the fiery incident at the beginning of the year, and he’s always been following you since.

He thinks that the fact you’re magicless is very interesting because he’s seen the great potential that humans have to learn complicated magic.  He hopes to see you flourish at Night Raven College and learn how to command the magical world around you.

He’s not a very good stalker, but that’s because he does it on purpose.  You always see him ducking behind a corner too slowly, barely making an effort to really hide that he was watching you.  It might make you uncomfortable at first, but after he introduces himself to you, a beautiful friendship begins.

You can sense that he has a really old soul with all the wise words he has to offer and how he treats his close Diasomnia friends.  He will always lie about his age when you ask, but now you can see the way his smile becomes more genuine when you try to guess how old he is and the way he directs his gaze a bit when you guess a little too close for comfort.  You never push the topic past a comfortable teasing, but you know when to stop when he gets uncomfortable.

Unlike Malleus who takes the time to teach you fae traditions and customs, Lilia will leave you little fae gifts and let you try and guess what they mean.  He playfully rests his head on your shoulder as you open it and question the seemingly bizarre gift.  Eventually after a few guesses, he’ll tell you what it means and will get lost in his memories as he recounts an old tale that reminds him of the gift.

He will also give you his cooking as a gift, which comes with its fair share of warnings from Silver that it's actually deadly, but you accept the gift either way.  Just to be nice, you’ll always take a small bite of the treat and offer a strained smile which always brightens Lilia’s mood.  When he’s gone, you have to secretly dispose of the bad cooking.

Will be ecstatic if you teach him how to cook properly, and will take all of your cooking lessons to heart.  If his cooking improves even just a bit, you will have a lot of Diasomnia members offer you thank you gifts for sparing them from Master Lilia’s terrible cooking.

He loves to spend time with you, either taking you for a quick fly around the campus or you helping him dye his hair, and enjoys every second of it.  He likes it even more when you stay over at his dorm and he gets the chance to sing you a lullaby, easing you into a gentle and peaceful sleep.

Is not really jealous because he knows that he’s your only best friend.  He’s always hovering around your shoulder and hanging upside down to make you laugh. How could he not be your best friend?

If someone were to get in the way of your relationship, like trying to ask you out, he’s quick to be at their shoulder, whispering in their ear with a smile about all the ways he could hurt them.

Lilia was a general for a fair majority of his life, so he’s no stranger to methods of torture or murder.  He’s fully equipped to end someone’s life, but he likes toying with his rivals and giving them many chances so he feels justified when he kills them later.  If he finally does resort to killing someone, it would be drawn out but not messy, he just hates cleaning up bloody messes.

Overall, he’s an older fae who misses the naivety and innocence of his younger days, but luckily he has you to help him feel more youthful.  He has a Danger Level of 7/10 because he has a high tolerance for annoying rivals, but he’s very menacing when he feels threatened.  While you may enjoy spending time laughing with him, he’ll be busy laughing at those who dare try to take you away from his safe embrace.

Sebek Zigvolt: ⚔️

Although he openly discusses how he does not like humans, he finds you tolerable when he learns that Malleus enjoys frequent nightly strolls with you.  He first started to stalk you to see if you were a suitable and appropriate companion for his Young Master.

During the first few weeks of this stalking, he noticed that you were just a normal human with nothing really special about them.  He deemed you a good friend and didn’t interfere with these late night walks because he knew you were not a threat.

Since watching you became a kind of habit, he had a hard time returning to his normal schedule.  The more he watched you, the more he observed how clumsy of a human you were, always making mistakes and getting in trouble.  He soon brought it upon himself to protect you from yourself and any other dangers that you seemed to draw to yourself like a magnet.

He’s not the best at sneaking around because of his loud voice and large stature.  You’ll often see him hiding behind trees with his broad shoulders sticking out, and you just brush it off as a weird fae thing.

When he eventually musters up the courage to befriend you, he’s blushing and tripping over his words.  He still projects his voice so that half of the school can hear it, but you laugh off his formal request and accept him into your group of friends.

He doesn’t mind the other members of your friend group because he’s mostly focused on you, but he does keep a close eye on them to ensure they don’t suddenly become a threat.

He doesn’t really understand friendship because he has been in a master-servant relationship for so long.  In his mind, he has appointed you as his Master (but he still puts Malleus over you) and always stands protectively at your shoulder.  You often have to remind him to let loose and just enjoy the moment.

Because he’s always watching you from a distance or by your side, he’s quick to pick out any dangers towards your safely.  He’ll often be yelling at Ace, Deuce, and Grim for trying to drag you into another perilous adventure, and he’ll lead you away from the troublemakers, maybe even going as far as reporting them.

He’s not the jealous type because he only views himself as your humble servant.  Even when he does get that feeling in his chest, he doesn’t quite know what it means.

He goes to Lilia for help, and Lilia will be ultimately unhelpful because Sebek will just decide to use violence against those that make him jealous.

After a while of tolerating those that like to take your attention away from him, Sebek will start to corner them in the dark hallways and will, probably for the first time in his life, quietly threaten them, his blank stare and soft voice probably scaring them the most.

If threatening does not work, he is not afraid to strike them down with either his hand or a sword.  He won’t realize the mess he’s made until after the deed, but he will take extra care to clean the area and dispose of all evidence.  After the murder, he will often approach you and tell you that he’s kept you safe again and would like a reward in return, much to your confusion.

For a much larger man, he surprisingly loves it when you gift him small human trinkets.  He has a fondness for the small size of the objects and has a special case for them in his room, right under his large portrait of Malleus.  In return, he will give you fae baubles, mostly jewelry, that he loves to get on one knee, as a formal gesture, to put on your fingers, wrists, neck, and so on.

Overall, his innocent background checking soon became his obsession as he frequently wondered what you were up to and if you were being safe.  He has a Danger Level of 8/10 because of his delusional nature and urge to protect you from everything and people who might not even be a threat.  While he may be Malleus’ servant, the more time he spends with you, the more he values your safety over his Young Master's.  You’ve got a protector for life, and while some of your friends may mysteriously disappear, Sebek will always remain by your side.

Silver: 💤

Just because he’s plagued by sleepiness doesn’t mean that he can’t care for you.  He first probably met you when he fell asleep during class and you were the only person to stay behind to wake him up.  Because he still looked so sleepy, you offered to walk him back to his dorm so he could lay down and rest for a bit.  Although Sebek took Silver away from you before you could ensure he got to his bed safely, Silver still remembers your act of kindness.

From then on, he would often take the seat next to you in all of your shared classes.  He always tries to actually take notes and stay awake, but he always succumbed to the sweet grasp of sleep.  But it was worth it to awaken to your gentle voice and kind face every time.

Because of this frequent exchange, you became best friends with him to make sure he wouldn’t fall asleep in any dangerous spots.

Loves to take naps with you, often laying on your lap if it’s in class or sharing a bench on one of the gardens during lunch for a quick afternoon snooze together.  You indulge his behavior because you know he can’t help it, plus you always feel refreshed after your daily afternoon naps.

On days when you help him back to his dorm, he will often grab your hand and force you into bed with him.  He drags you by your wrist and pulls you under the covers where he’ll say that you're warm or that he wants to hug something while sleeping.  While he may be unconscious, he’s still very strong and you don’t have much luck getting out of his hold.

As an “apology�� for forcing you to sleep with him, he will give you plush pillows with the best pillow cases and really soft blankets to help ease you to sleep and make you more comfortable beside him.  In return, you will give him nicely scented candles to help him relax and some self-care items like face masks to cleanse the face and eye masks to block light.  You two often have sleepovers where you perform self-care on each other before enjoying a deep sleep.

He isn’t really interested in stalking you, but he might ask Sebek to keep an eye out for you without really giving him a good reason.  He knows he won’t be able to stay awake long enough to follow you around constantly, but knows he can trust Sebek to ensure your safety.

He’s a bit too sleepy to be jealous of others, but he will suddenly be alert if you take a nap with someone else.  If Leona dragged you into the greenhouse to use you as a pillow or if Deuce and/or Ace got kicked out of their dorm and now have to sleep in your bed, Silver is wide awake and offended.

He views the time you share in dreamland as a sacred ritual only between you two.  He will not tolerate any others getting too comfortable with you.

When he does get jealous, the worst he’d probably do is call upon his animal friends to cause some minor inconveniences.  From birds shitting on a rival's head to them getting chased by an angry raccoon, Silver isn’t really out to physically harm anyone too bad.

If he is pushed to violence, he’d probably ask Sebek to help him get rid of enemies by claiming he caught them trying to harm Malleus.  While he does have training similar to Sebek’s and he would be able to kill those he views as lowly, he finds it much more enjoyable to watch the murder than actually commit it.  Plus, Sebek is just so easy to convince to do the deed, especially when he’s told it's Malleus’ safety that is involved.

Overall, he may be a sleepy boy, but he is not to be underestimated.  While he uses his sleepiness as a way to get closer to you, he can be awake when he needs to deal with any competition.  He has a Danger Level of 7/10 because while the odds of someone invading your naps together are low, when it does happen, he does not hesitate to react with brutality.  As long as you let him cuddle with you when he sleeps, you’ve got a sleepover buddy for life.  But when will you notice his possessive grasp on you each time you drift off in his hold?

[gofancyninjaworld]

Call Him Janus-ide, The Way He's Two-Faced

With the kind permissions of Rayadraws and theOmnicode. Bless your sharp eyes.

Genos better have a birthday in January. January, Janus's month, is typically portrayed as a two-faced man, representing the month's position as the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one. Janus is the god of thresholds, places of transition -- inside to out, holy to profane, beginnings to endings. Beyond that, this is the god of duality, seemingly opposed items that nevertheless form part of a whole.

Characters in OPM start really simple but as ONE keeps layering on them, they become more than initially meets the eye. However, when it comes to duality, Genos has to be the most dual-natured character there.

How? Well, let's count the ways.

1. What's in a name?

Let's start with the low-hanging fruit, his name. While he generally goes by Genos, his name is really Genocide. Yes, as in the systematic elimination of a group of people identified by their religion, ethnicity, or just by happening to encumber some valuable land without the benefit of sufficiently heavy weaponry. It's just about possible to pretend not to see it when it's written out on his clothing; however, when Kuseno makes Genos a virtual practice tool called The Virtual Genocide System, what kind of sick fucker does this is all one can say.

Extra credit: if you want another horrifying duality, look up 'ketsugo'.

It gets a little more interesting when we look at how his name is written in Japanese, for that's where the duality emerges. On the one hand, the kanji means 'great slaughter', so far, so unsurprising. On the other hand, it also means 'to fight fiercely to the end', and the image of undaunted resistance in the face of impossible odds is just as fitting to this character as is his surviving a massacre -- and warning of yet another to come.

2. Fire Worship

Of necessity, Genos is forged in fire. The metal that makes up much of his body must be grubbed up as ore, melted out of it, refined, alloyed, smelted, and worked to produce something useful, all of which requires fire. The parts that are plastic are drawn out of the Earth as crude oil, distilled (more fire), admixed, reacted, processed. And the parts that are ceramic, well, nothing loves fire as much as a ceramic. And yet, that's not all Genos is. He is a cyborg, which means that he is also human, someone living, fragile, and yet resilient. We see many cyborgs in One-Punch Man, but someone like Genos, who is very comfortable owning his humanity *and* having a mostly mechanical body, is rare. The cyborgs we meet tend to either hide the fact or double down on being inhuman.

Being happy being both man and machine, no matter how weird it looks to anyone.

Speaking of fire, Genos's choice of weapon is just as dual-natured as his name. In the first instance, he burns things. It's little wonder that fire used to be regarded (gotta love those Greeks) as one of the four essential elements: its ability to transform is fundamental to humanity. Its ability to transform the merely edible to the cooked literally enabled human development by freeing up more calories than are normally available in food. Fire warms; fire razes; fire drives away darkness; fire propels; fire impedes; fire cauterizes; fire burns; fire refines; fire smelts; fire consumes. Wherever you find humanity, something is burning. One hopes in a controlled way.

As Genos uses it as a weapon, it's very much the destructive aspect of fire we see him use. The Hero Association calls him Demon Cyborg because they hope he keeps turning those flames onto enemies of humanity, thankyouverymuch.

Like the fire of Hell striking the sinful and consuming them utterly, Genos showing the utter destruction that got him his hero name.

Of course, we have long since moved beyond burning dry sticks and lumps of coal to make what we call fire. Which takes us quite naturally to the third thing.

3. Core matters

Want to divide a crowd of well-educated people? Just ask them their opinion on 'nuclear energy.' Whether it's energy liberated by splitting or fusing atoms, do we like it for its ability to create an eye-watering amount of energy from incredibly little material, live in awe of its ability to destroy enemies, dread its capacity to maim and mutate with the ionizing radiation that comes as part of the package deal, or fear its eon-long tail of contamination? To say 'views differ' is to understate the heat of the debate.

There may have been a time when Genos's core was battery-powered, but since his energy demands have gone from extreme to extortionate, this baby is nuclear. With all the hazards inherent.

Heroes are just built different: instead of running away, they're like 'keep it together, man.'

So far, so obvious. However, the visual references of the core are even more interesting. Via Rayadraws, the reference of the core is the guidance system of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Entirely mechanical (and thus not able to be interfered with remotely), it ensures that the ICBM, once launched, will absolutely hit its target without fail. A very fitting device for the heart of a character hell-bent on finding and destroying his sworn enemy, whatever the cost.

Doesn't that look ominously familiar? Mutually-assured destruction.

However (I use this word a lot, don't I?), that's not the only way to see the core. When Saitama brought back Genos's core from the future and the latter plugged it in, the core is seen from a different angle, and it's another powerful symbol: a vajra (h/t Omnicode). In Buddhism, it's a ritual weapon symbolizing the properties of a diamond (indestructibility) and a thunderbolt (irresistible force).

A much more positive image: one of power, wisdom, and enlightenment. The more positive version of what he's seeking.

Probably the most interesting thing about the school of Buddhism this comes from is that it's about transmuting vices into virtues. Again, incredibly fitting.

4. So, Where is ONE going with this?

Here we have it. Nominatively, Genos names both the most hideous crime against humanity and the strength of character to resist such crime. Physically, Genos stands at the nexus of man and machine, happily occupying the liminal space between them. The power Genos has sought can be incredibly destructive to both friend and foe... and we've seen him use it to do great good. We've seen how harsh and cold he can be, but we've seen, too, that when he cares to temper his strict pursuit of justice with empathy, something wonderful comes to light.

But most of all, this is a character whose fate rests on a knife edge of apparently small decisions. No matter what, Genos is not going to be dissuaded from finding and destroying the rampaging cyborg and anyone who may have supported him. The question is: will that quest bring great destruction, or is there a way to bring something positive out of it? Either is equally possible with this guy.

We just have to wait and see.

PS: Yes, there are other dualities I could name. I'm hoping y'all come up with them. :D

[hotvintagepoll]

I am adoring all of these polls and gif sets and just being fed so many hot vintage people. As someone who really hasn’t watched very many classics, are there any movies you’d recommend for someone just starting to dip their toes in older media but unsure where to start?

Sure! I don't want to sway any voting, but I'll put an incomplete list of favorites that involve hot men not still in the bracket below the cut.

Something to note that applies to most of these old movies—older movies have different pacing than modern movies, so some of these might seem really slow or weird to start. There are also different ways of framing gender and agency, for better and for worse. I've italicized the ones that I think are the best for starting with, but go with whatever genre/aesthetic sounds best.

The Court Jester (Danny Kaye, Basil Rathbone)—a circus performer working for a quasi-Robin Hood infiltrates the royal court. Fun comedy that's incredibly accessible and still so light on its feet. Swordfighting, glamorous medieval costumes, court intrigues, and silly accents.

Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly)—fun polyamorous musical comedy. The dancing is incredible, but so is the sense of joy and camaraderie between Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. Genuinely captures the feeling of hanging out with your best friends. 1920s Hollywood, big movie studios, backstage drama, goofy hijinks.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone)—classic swashbuckler/romance. It could read a little slow to modern tastes but the action scenes are absolutely killer, as is the sentiment of seeing little guys pull down big capitalists evil monarchs. Swashbuckling, labor activists merry men hanging out in the woods, hot men in tights, social commentary swords, a Maid Marian who really holds her own and falls in love with the socialist

Charade (Cary Grant)—thriller/romantic comedy. Audrey Hepburn's husband dies and leaves her a hidden inheritance, and she's racing some skeevy characters to find it. A little bit scary but mostly charming and gorgeous, and you can find it high quality virtually anywhere because they fucked up the copyright trademark in the opening credits. Romance, murders, Paris, 1960s fashion, chases in the night.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Dick Van Dyke)—this movie is divisive for some reason—I personally like peace, love, and joy, so it makes the list. This is a James Bond movie if James Bond had two kids, lived in a windmill in the south of England, and was into cottagecore inventions more than martinis and racism. This is very much a kids' movie so go in with that expectation, but enjoy the gorgeous production design, the wonderfully silly performances, and Lionel Jeffries pulling out every stop as an insane old man. Dick Van Dyke has excellent DILF energy. Magical cars, big musical vibes, fun inventions, and romantic fantasy.

To Be Or Not To Be (Jack Benny)—comedy/drama. A ragtag Warsaw theatre troupe stands off against the Gestapo after the invasion of Poland. TW for Nazis, obviously, but overall this is a comedy with some heft, and kind of shocking to be this ballsy about fucking hating Hitler's guts in the 1940s. Hambone actors, Shakespeare, spies, 1930s gowns. It's been a minute since I watched it so I don't think there are any TWs here, but go forth with caution.

Witness for the Prosecution (Tyrone Power)—mystery/legal drama based off an Agatha Christie story. The performances are campy fun and the twist would be at home in something like Knives Out. Big dramatics, hambones, lots of talking, a bit of a mindbender.

The Lady Vanishes (Michael Redgrave)—mystery/suspense/romantic comedy. It's a little slow to start but roll with it—once the action moves to the train the pacing really picks up. This gets slotted as a thriller sometimes but it's much funnier and gentler than that. There's some period-typical snarkiness directed at anyone Foreign™ by some of the British characters; the British characters are also made fun of. Trains, British people, international shenanigans, mystery, and humor.

All About Eve (absolutely none of these hot men, lots of hot women though)—a legendary actress fights for her life against the rising star who supplants her. Big drama, big performances, lots of gasp! and dahling! and vicious little quips. New York, theatre pronounced theahhtah, drama queens and plotting.

The Philadelphia Story (James Stewart, Cary Grant)—talk-heavy comedy, lots of quick banter and period transatlantic accent fun. It's a bit shouty and conflict-heavy at times, but I don't think James or Cary have ever been hotter, and Katherine Hepburn is just wow. Very funny dialogue, relatable characters, incredibly hot across the board. There is one instance of a racial slur (not directed at anyone but still there) and one shove. Some people won't like the discussion of Hepburn's character's choices as a daughter and a wife. With all of these movies you'll see a a range of how female characters are presented and treated, and while some period movies fall hard for sexist tropes, I personally think the performances, direction, and subtext of many of these films actually prioritizes the experiences of the female characters and shows them as living, breathing people, even if they're not framed the way they would be today.

[thatonecatcat]

“Thats not good!”

BERET (my hilda virtual assistant au) is taking over my brain.. more than moonstone somehow

heres some headcannons for yall hehe

-i like to imagine that in this au the other viruses BERET fights are like her, just human like and the way she fights them is verbally like she just scolds them to get out the computer

-shes so powerful that if she wants to, she can shut down the computer permanently

-guess which character i took inspiration from for her outfit.. who knows.. it could be anyone..

-BERET doesent stand for anything since i cant think of something thats starts with the letter b that would fit

-shes kinda like a vocaloid of sorts? sounds like one ig

-she only exists once in someones computer, she knows about humans but doesent care about being one

-frida david and louise chat with her about sparrow scout stuff, shes an honorary member and helps out with their projects

-trevor tries to download BERET on his own device to troll her but BERET just deleted all the programming on his phone immediately afterwards BAHAHA

-BERET swore to stay in a window tab at all times unless totally necessary after david realized that she can control the video games they play (shes really good at them and it ruins the fun)

-also when i mean powerful i SAY powerful, she can alter the code of everything and control the keyboard so that it types by itself like she can control every device just from her window tab herself

-also about the window tab i keep talking about, when you download BERET theres a tab that spawns on the screen that you cant remove, its basically BERETS house where she hangs out (its just a box with fluffy clouds, like those sleeping quarters in a space station)

[ramblin-tiger]

Its Just A Game.

"Oh, its just a game i play with a few friends of mine."

That's all it was after all, just a game. You played it on the weekends and occasionally during the week when you didn't have homework or have to go work. You made a few friends and joined a small guild that welcomed newer players, and it was nice to just have people to chat with and hang out with in this new world you found yourself in.

As time moved on you finished school and worked more often. Now however, you were pretty good at managing your time so you played much more often. You became great friends with your guild leader and many inside this smaller guild. Eventually things slowed down in the game again when summer was over, with many members being students still the entire game slowed. Many members 'retired' so to say as they moved on or just needed to keep up with school. Then your Guild leader decided that they needed to retire from the game, alongside a few other members. It was a sad day, as you had become close friends after all, even talking outside of the game for a year or so at this point. But people move on and even if you still wanted to play others wanted to move on. So you bid them farewell in game and kept up with them outside of the game.

After all, it was just a game, right?

Since you still played, you decided to find a new guild to call home. After some searching, you found someone who was just starting a guild and was nice and seemed genuinely caring about their members. You joined up with the new guild and once again you made many more friends. Over the next few years you befriended many people in this new guild, and as you all played this game together you all got closer. The fun you all had rising in the ranks of the guild rankings and holding the top spots of a few categories was a blast. Once again, you became close friends with your guild leader and many others, eventually taking an officers role. You all came up with silly games to play within the game for even more fun. Like seeing who could hold onto a crown the longest when anyone could call it back to their own backpack. Many years passed, and eventually life started to take over. You stepped down from your position so newer people could help do things as you 'partially retired' to deal with life. You bid everyone a temporary farewell with love and left the game for some time.

After all, it was just a game, nothing more. . . Right?

Years later you came back to the game, having plenty of free time to dedicate to a game that you once played with so many great friends. When you logged on you were met with horror. Many of your friends had long since retired themselves. Your guild was a shadow of what it once was with nobody active anymore, and those that were had moved on to new guilds. You stared at the screen that showed what was once your virtual HOME. Emotions you never expected to have to deal with filling your mind. After a few days you make the hard decision to leave and see if there is a new place to maybe call home.

Nothing really ever stays the same in a game anyway, you guess.

Eventually you find a new guild and they accept you into their group. You play with them and do your best to fit in and become a part of them. However something just feels off. You don't quite mesh as well with the others and feel left out a lot of the time. You know its not intentional. The games clearly been dying for years, a mere fraction of the player base it once had. But it still hurts more than you would have thought.

One day a few months later, while browsing the auction house you see it. The crown that your old home used to play 'keep aways' with. It's not a particularly impressive item, nor expensive. You easily snag it and add it to your inventory. Out of curiosity, you check the guilds registry to see whats become of your old guild. You look at the list and without realizing it, your crying a bit. Your old homes are no longer on the list, having long since been removed from the game as there was no logical reason for them to have been kept. All of the memories are now all you have left. It hurts but its just how life is, you tell yourself. One thing sticks in your mind however:

It was never just a game.

[2chopsticks2eyes]

What You Deserve: Part 1

This is part 1 of a three part series, please be sure to start from part one!

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Pairing: Lee Minho/Lee Know x Fem Reader

Themes: Smut, Angst, Fluff

Word Count: All parts are ~67k | AO3

Warnings: Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, mentions of non-con, PTSD, Anxiety, Alcohol, Cussing, Come Eating, Oral Sex, Hand Jobs, Vaginal Fingering, Blow Jobs, Loss of Virginity, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, References to Drugs, Drug Dealing, Alternate Universe - College/University, Eating Disorders, Childhood Trauma, Vaginal Sex, Protected Sex, Unprotected Sex

Summary: After unfortunate circumstances, you pack up and move to Korea with your best friend Bang Chan to attend college. After falling into Chan's group of friends he had established, you find yourself getting a little too close to the mild tempered and snarky Lee Minho.

Author's Note: I am probably spoiling the whole story with the warnings, but I like to be safe. I originally was only on AO3, but I wanted to link platforms with Tumblr and Twitter too. Hope you enjoy!

________________________________________

Part One: Moving On

None of them had ever treated you any differently than the rest of the group. Even though you’re a girl, to them, you were always considered ‘one of the guys’ and you were grateful that being the only girl among a group of 8 boys never made things stupidly awkward. Picture fucking perfect, really. Although, this was mostly thanks to Bang Chan, your best friend and self proclaimed little brother.

You had met Chan in primary school and grew up with him all the way to Newtown High School of the Performing Arts way back when he still lived in Australia. You two were extremely close, you were even considered as a sister to him within his family with how much time you spent hanging out with him. Everyone always called him Christopher or Chris, but with as much time you spent around his family, you got accustomed to calling him Chan. After all, you were closer to his family than you ever were to your own due to your hapless home situation. If you had one choice in life, it would be to jet the hell straight out to anywhere but there, but reality isn’t that kind.

Your mom and dad fought round the clock, no matter what time or day, you couldn’t remember a day where they hadn’t fought. It didn’t help that they were constantly shooting cocaine and getting blackout drunk any chance they got, making it virtually impossible for them to hold a job. This kept them in constant poverty and living in a shitty one bedroom apartment, making you have to crash on the couch or Chan's place. All the money they made from dealing was used to either buy even more drugs and alcohol or to gamble. You consider yourself lucky that you didn’t have any siblings that would have to subject themselves to that shit lifestyle.

They used you mostly to transfer drugs and collect money, subjecting you to the most seedy situations that a teenager should never have to deal with. You had to learn major self defense tactics in case things had gone awry, which happened to be often. You didn’t have a choice though. It was mostly your father that had threatened to subject you to unspeakable scenarios - that you’d rather not think of - if you didn’t cooperate.

Chan never once judged you, even when he first found out, even when you confided in him, even when you begged for him not to tell anyone, he was always there for you. Whether you were kicked out of the house for a day or your dad had beat you again, he was always there to help you get through it. He definitely worried about you though, especially when he saw that you had to skip out on school lunch again due to lack of money or he discovered you had even more bruises. He didn’t realize that you had caught him staring at your protruding ribs on the days you went swimming at his house.

His family was fairly wealthy. Actually, disgustingly wealthy. How someone so popular and loaded chose you to be his best friend would forever be an unknown mystery. But you always refused his help when he offered, you hated feeling like you owed anyone anything despite his insistence that you didn’t have to pay back. You were raised to believe there is no such thing as free help.

The only time you had involuntarily accepted his help was when you had passed out in class from lack of energy. He had dragged your tiny, malnourished ass to the nurse and bought you more food than you had eaten in days. He chewed you out for weeks for letting yourself get to that state. 

He really was too good for this world. He was the only beacon of light in your life.

However, your entire sense of happiness was demolished when he had decided to go up to Korea for college to grow in music production. He wanted to stay because he knew you weren’t safe, but - even though it tore you to pieces - you insisted he follow his dreams.

You were studying dance at the time, however you had given up hope for any chance of going to college due to lack of funds. You were a year older than Chan, so once you graduated, you at least still got to hold on to your best friend for a moment longer before he moved. Even if that year was filled with you working three jobs only to pay for ‘your share of the living expenses’ to your parents and to save up enough money to get the hell out of there.

The farewell with Chan was the hardest thing you had done up to that point. Harder than being beaten to a pulp by your dad. Harder than being told by your parents that you should go kill yourself. Even harder than not eating for three days.

You talked and video chatted almost every day, but that still didn’t fill the ache of missing him. Before he left you rarely cried, numb to your whole fucked up situation. But after, you had cried yourself to sleep almost every night, trying to escape the nightmare that had made its home in your life. This continued for four whole years. On the nights you were kicked out of the house again, Chan's family would still welcome you with open arms. Most friends would have drifted apart and lost connection, but not you and Chan, nor his parents. You were family.

One night, when everyone was asleep, your dad had walked into the living room and woke you up from the couch. To say you were surprised to see him pointing a gun at you would be quite the fucking understatement. He smelt like piss and enough alcohol to make him at least 80 proof.

“If you make a single fucking noise, I will shoot that worthless, ugly cumdump of a mouth of yours.”

You were frozen from his words, and in your half-asleep daze, you were extremely muddled. That was until he made his intentions painfully clear when he straddled you and took the hand that wasn’t holding the gun and started to desperately pull off your sleep shorts. Your skin turned to ice and your gut felt like a ton of bricks dropped through your ass. You started to squirm in attempts to get him to stop, but he just painfully pinned your hands under his knees on each side of your hips and held the cold metal barrel of the gun to your temple.

“Don’t fucking move you stupid slut.” He spat his venom on your face and you had to restrain yourself from vomiting on the spot.

At this point, the tears were streaming down your face and you felt like a complete dumbass in distress disorder. “Dad, please s-stop…” You sob in the quietest voice you could muster. He promptly backhanded the side of the barrel over your right cheek with a blinding amount of force and your vision was momentarily clouded with white hot searing pain. He returned the gun to your head and you could feel the warm, sticky substance of blood drip from your cheekbone. He gave you a final warning look that sent a crippling sense of fear down your spine and then continued what he was doing.

Your eyes kept scanning your surroundings looking for anything that could help you escape. The only opportunity you saw was when your demon of a father had pulled your shorts and panties down to your knees and started shoving his hand into your bone dry pussy painfully . You felt humiliated and violated, but you used his distracted state to promptly knee him as hard as you could in his dirty, perverted balls.

The man shrieked like a fucking banchee as he dropped the gun to cup the rattled testicles in his hands. You quickly retrieved the firearm and ran to the front door, yanking your bottoms up in the meantime. You had always kept your backpack fully stocked by the front door in preparation of the days that you were briefly thrown out. You were silently praising God that you had kept that habit as you grabbed it and bolted out of the apartment, your father screaming limping after you. You heard the sound of his quickly fading stomping as you rounded the corner and hauled ass out of sight, ensuring to leave no trace of your whereabouts.

You ran faster than you had ever run in your life, not even stopping to look back. You didn’t know where you were running to, you just ran where your feet took you. It wasn’t much of a shocker that your feet took you to the only place you ever knew as a safe haven. You had apparently run five miles at one in the morning to find yourself standing at the door of the Bang residence.

You had probably rang the doorbell around twenty times before the exhaustion hit you and you dropped to your knees on the pavement, the gun laying at your side on the ground. It took a few minutes, probably due to waking them up, but the door finally opened to a very bewildered Mr. and Mrs. Bang. You instantly threw yourself into their arms and let out loud, choked sobs, clinging onto them for dear life. You were finally home.

- - - - - - - - - -

After explaining everything to them, not only about that night, but every grizzly detail of your entire family situation, they refused to let you go back home, fearing for your safety. You tried to refuse, but they eventually forced you to tell Chan. 

Tell Chan? The man already had a full fledged death wish for your father! And they expected you to tell him as if you were giving an update on the crisp Australian weather? Well this should be fun...

It would take all but the convincing of God to keep him from reporting him. You could already tell a shit storm was waiting on the other end of that dial tone.

It was probably the most emotional phone call you had ever had with him and he was so damn ballistic that he was about to hop on a flight home to come ‘kill that motherfucker’. It took some desperate convincing and ass kissing to change his mind.

You stayed with the Bangs for about a week - staying in Chan’s old room - before Chan’s mom and dad sat down to have a serious talk with you. This is it. You thought. They are going to tell me to find somewhere else to live. You hadn’t saved enough money from your jobs yet to find a place because just about everything you had earned went directly to your parents. You were hardly prepared to start sleeping in cardboard boxes and panhandling.

Mrs. Bang let out a big sigh and rested her hand on your knee. “Dear, you already know that we have always considered you a part of this family. We love you and we want to keep you safe.” The tears started welling up in your eyes and you looked down at your restless hands to hide your face. Fucking why emotions? “And to keep you safe, you can’t stay here any longer.” You couldn’t help the uncontrollable shakiness that came over you, wrecking your body with silent sobs.

“That is why…” Chan’s father held your hand. “...we are going to send you to go to school with Chan in Korea. If anyone can protect you and be there for you, it’s him.” You craned your head up with wide eyes.

“W-what…?” You just sat there looking at them with a frozen, gobsmacked look. Nowhere in your mind had you expected that. It was certifiably insane.

“Well, we know how much you wanted to go with him and how distraught you were when he left. Only now, we know just how deeply that fear was grounded. We had no idea you were going through all of that, sweetie…” Chan’s mom held your other hand and you saw that she, too, had tears rolling down her graceful features.

“N-no… no no no! I can’t do that! I can’t afford it! Please I–” You couldn’t hold back the hyperventilation that was formed by your tits-for-brain emotions.

Mr. Bang cut you off. “You don’t need to worry about that, we just need to do what’s best for you Y/N. And there is no use arguing with us, we have discussed this thoroughly and our decision is final.” His voice was stern and his expression set in stone.

You were gasping back your sobs. “I-I-I c-can’t–” One hundred percent ugly crying, no doubt about it.

Chan’s mom enveloped you in a tight hug. “Please Y/N! We wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if we let you stay anywhere near that hellhole. You deserve a better life than this, sweet girl, and we love you as our own. Please do this for us.” You hugged her back and sobbed into her shoulder violently.

“If it makes you feel better…” Chan’s dad said from the side of your vision. “...you can pay us back with monthly payments. Would that make you feel better about this?” Chan’s mom sat up and lightly slapped his arm.

“Honey! I don’t want her to have to worry about th–”

“Yes! That would make me feel much better.” You interjected her protest eagerly. “If this is something I have to do, I would much prefer not to do it for free.” You had been backed into a sticky, bittersweet corner and you needed to make rational decisions.

They smiled at you. “And you won’t even have to worry about that until you find a job, or if you can’t pay at any point in time, please don’t worry about it.”

You meekly nodded and looked down at the frayed edges of Chan’s sweatshirt that enveloped you, stretching the worn out fabric and releasing it to watch the way the fibers scrunched together again. “I really don’t know what I can do to thank you guys… I really don’t deserve you two…”

“Oh enough of that!” You received another hug from Mrs. Bang. “You deserve every wonderful thing in this world and more.” You sat back and looked at your newly self proclaimed parents and smiled, tears never once stopping as you were overwhelmed with how surreal everything felt. You would finally be free.

- - - - - - - - - -

You were extremely grateful that you grew up learning Korean from Chan and his family because if you hadn’t, you would look like an utter dinktwat in this country. You weren’t perfect, but you figured you would learn fairly quickly from constant exposure.

You squinted your eyes as you tried to see past the hustle and bustle of the busy airport, looking for the right face. Finally, you saw a hand raise up to wave at you across the sea of faces. You looked down to the owner of the hand and there he was, your dirty blonde haired beacon of light, smiling brilliantly at you with his deep-dimpled grin. You instinctively pushed past the barrier of bodies and threw yourself into his arms, burying your face into his warm, familiar scent. You could hear him lightly chuckle at you as you were squeezed tightly.

“Hey my little Kiyomi. I’ve missed you so much” You teared up as you smiled into the crook of his neck. You had always loved the nickname him and his family gave you. They had told you it basically meant cutie or a cute person in Korean and, at first, you laughed at the name, but now it was as natural as saying your actual name.

“I’ve missed you too Channie… so much.” He held you tighter momentarily before letting you go. He stared at you with a sad smile on his face, caressing his thumb over the large, scabbed gash on your cheekbone. He gave it a small peck and smiled down at you.

“You ready to go home?” The words sounded weird coming from Chan’s mouth, but you nodded earnestly in reply. He grabbed your luggage from you and slung you over his other shoulder, ignoring your protests and turning to push past the onlooking travelers while you laughed and covered your face in embarrassment.

- - - - - - - - - -

When Chan opened the door to the three bedroom condo, you took in the surroundings of the area that already looked three or four times the size of your previous apartment. It had a narrow entryway with a coat closet on your left with an area to leave your shoes. You saw a pair of white fluffy slippers with a sticker bow placed haphazardly on top like a present and you smirked back at your new roommate. “Housewarming gift?” Chan said with an awkward smile. You just chuckled at him and plucked the bow off to stick on the middle of his forehead, making him scoff, and you slipped on your comfy new slippers.

You took a step inside and saw a wall on your left with three doors lined along it, slightly ajar, to show a couple of bedrooms and a bathroom in between. To your right, there was the living room adorned with a couch, a loveseat, and a lounge chair surrounding a coffee table. An unnecessarily large TV sat atop a table scattered with various video game consoles and anime figurines in front of it all. Walking further in, the living room was attached to an open-floor planned kitchen lined across the back wall with a large, granite counter island separating the rooms diagonally with a small dining table pressed to the wall on the right. 

The floors were completely dark hardwood minus the kitchen, bathrooms, and bedrooms. The bedrooms with plush, off white carpet and the bathrooms and kitchen with sleek, stone tile. You walked in a little further to peer into the open doors and, at the end of the wall that held the bedrooms, there was a door holding a huge utility room with a washer, dryer, and wash basin for the laundry. The condo was fucking unbelievable. Sure as hell too nice for your impoverished ass.

There was a single closed door on the wall to the left of the TV, between the living room and dining area. “Now, don’t argue with me, because I already know that you will. But Felix and I already decided that you deserve the master bedroom because you need your own bathroom. He said something like ‘A lady needs her own space’. If only he knew how un-ladylike you really are, he might have rephrased that.” Chan rolled his eyes, using air quotes for effect.

You scoffed at him and shoved his shoulder with a fond smile. I mean he wasn’t wrong per-se. “Chan… Chan. You do realize I’ve never needed my own room, right? As far as I’m concerned, you could make me sleep on the washroom floor and I’d be down-right giddy.”

He threw his head back and let out a hardy laugh. “Maybe if you’re in one of your bitchy moods, I will. But no, that’s just even more reason you need that bedroom. You need to be able to have some sense of normalcy. Plus, since you don’t exactly have many belongings, I already decked out your room with all of your favorite things.” He raised his head slightly to the ceiling with a smug face and his fists on his hips, looking like the proud little brother he was.

“Damnit Chan! I told you not to spend money on me!” Another harsh punch to his shoulder.

“Ow! Get over it! If I want to give my best friend a present, I’m going to do what I want! And stop hitting me, you fucking ogre!”

Much to your dismay, your eyes got watery again. You honestly didn’t know what you did in your past life to deserve this man. “Damnit Chan, stop making me be an emotional bitch baby…” You quickly wiped away an escaped tear. He didn’t say anything, he just wrapped you in one of his big bear hugs.

When he let you go, he wiped away your tears and grabbed your luggage again. “C’mon, let me show you your new room!”

When you walked in, the edge of the ceiling was lined with fairy lights, bathing the room in a soft glow. This was punctuated with a large salt rock lamp sitting atop a beautiful antique nightstand. Thankfully not everything was super grand or expensive looking, just a simple wooden desk with a chair and bed frame with an ornately carved headboard, both painted white.

It was only when you walked into the master bathroom that your jaw dropped. There was a large vanity stretching all the way down the length of the wall with two sinks attached to the left of the room and a separate jet tub and standing shower. There was a partition wall hiding the toilet and the far wall had the most massive closet you had ever seen.

The closet was filled with all sorts of women’s clothing. Ranging anywhere from formal attire to loungewear. You turned to Chan with a bone-chilling glare. “Chan, what the actual fuck is this?”

He hid behind the luggage he was still holding as if to protect himself. “That’s part two to your gift. Trust me, I know your tastes.” You looked inside one of the drawers and pulled out a pair of black lace panties and held them between two fingers to show them to Chan with an incredulous look on your face. “Okay okay that was NOT me! That was Lix! He supposedly wears that kind of stuff for Hyunjin all the time so he volunteered to shop for the… um… delicates?”

You rolled your eyes and covered your face with your hands. As you moved on, your eyes continued to roam the area as you made your way back to the living room, claiming the lounge chair. “By the way, where is Felix? I want to meet this other Aussie boy.”

“Ah.” The brunette rubbed the back of his neck. ”He said that you would probably be overwhelmed once you got in so he went to hang out with the guys until a little later tonight so you could get accustomed.”

Ah, yes. The notorious group of boys that Chan had befriended over the years that he has been gone. He had talked about each and every one of them several times and you really already felt like you already knew them, despite actually meeting them. “Oh yeah, the guys, yours and Felix’s friends from Uni right?”

“Yeah, but Jisung and Changbin also work with me at Eunsincheo.” You vaguely recalled Chan mentioning this. The word meant ‘The Hideaway’. It was a music and reading lounge where he spent his days serving shitty coffee and organizing small performances for up-and-coming artists. It really was a cool gig, and he absolutely loved it. He said he could get you on the team, but you wanted to find your own job without all the help that he was already giving you.

“Nice. When will I be introduced? I want to meet the guys that are competing for my best friend spot.” 

Chan scoffed from his spot on the couch. “Psh, as if there is any competition. I’m afraid you, Kiyomi, are stuck with me.”

“Awww little baby Channie. You’re so sweet!” You leaned over and gave him an annoying pinch on the cheek.

“Okay okay, that’s enough of that! As for meeting the boys, we didn’t think it was a good idea for you to meet them on your first day here. They can be a little… overwhelming…”

“Well that just makes me want to meet them more! I need to start my socializing skills to get used to the language. Can’t we all go out for dinner or something? I want some authentic Korean food and see if it rivals your mom’s cooking.”

“Okay, first of all, nothing rivals her cooking. And secondly, I’ll have to message them and see if they are all up for it.” 

“Great! While you do that, I’m going to go shower and see how much of a trainwreck you made of my wardrobe.” You heard a small ‘hey!’ as you wormed your way into your room. You laughed behind your closed doors and let out a big sigh, looking at your own room and feeling as if you were dreaming. After 23 years of your life living in hell, all of it was really too good to be true.

- - - - - - - - - -

You decided, since you were just going to a simple bar and hot pot place, you opted for some ripped blue jeans, a Totoro t-shirt, and some checkered Vans. You pulled your hair up into a half ponytail and just lightly brushed on a natural shade of eyeshadow and mascara to the corners of your eyes as best as you could since you weren't accustomed to wearing makeup. You tried desperately to hide the wound on your cheek with concealer, failing gloriously and inadvertently huffing in frustration.

As you and Chan neared the restaurant, you could hear a rambunctious bunch from the front of a small, humble building. “Ah, sounds like the band of misfits are already here.” Chan said before you could even see the patio. For some reason, you could feel the nerves bubble up inside you. Partly because your Korean was extremely rusty, but also because you desperately wanted Chan’s friends to accept you like the insecure chicken-shit you were.

“Do you all always have to disturb the peace wherever we go?” Chan spoke loudly over the loud group of boys once the two of you stepped onto the small patio that the men invaded. The group went silent and turned their attention toward you, making your heart fall out of your ass.

You gave a deep bow and pulled out the most confident Korean words you could muster. “Hello everyone, I’m Y/N. Lovely to meet you all.” You cringed at yourself and Chan sputtered out a laugh, immediately slapping his hand over his mouth when you glared daggers back at him. You could feel your cheeks warm up in embarrassment, but then several of the men stood up with smiles on their faces to come and greet you.

The first one was skinny with a shaggy, but surprisingly stylish bleached mullet and cute freckles that scattered across his cheeks and nose like stardust. He had a grin that spread across his entire face, making his eyes disappear behind his blinding, sunshine smile. He unexpectedly enveloped you in a hug. “OHMYGOD HI! I’m Felix! I've been SO FUCKING EXCITED to meet you! You will probably hear some of the guys call me Lee Yongbok, but that's just my Korean name. You can call me whatever you like!”

“Good to finally meet you!” You hugged him back and released with a warm smile. You instantly felt warm in his presence and you already knew you would be fast friends.

“I’m so glad you wanted to meet everyone today! I’m going to bake some cookies in the morning to welcome you as our new roommate. I know we will be best friends in no time!” He had a thick Australian accent as he spoke in English and you couldn’t help but smile in his presence.

“Hey!” Chan shoved the smaller boy away from you. “The best friend position is already taken! Find your own!”

“Jealous much?” You smirked up at Chan who just rolled his eyes at you petulantly.

The next boy walked up to wrap his arm around Felix. He was slightly taller than the rest and he was also fairly lean, but his arms were very toned. He had long black hair that he had tied in a half ponytail. His face was incredibly beautiful with plump lips and a beauty mark underneath his left eye, surely making even the coldest hearts swoon. He slightly bowed his head and squeezed Felix to his side. He started to speak in very broken English. “Hello, my name is Hwang Hyunjin. It is nice to meet you. I am Felix’s boyfriend. My uhhhmm… my English is not… too good?” He said it as if it were a question, as if he didn’t know if what he said was correct or not. Cute.

You decided that you should start to try and speak Korean to the group so they would feel more comfortable. Confidence is key right? “Nice to meet you as well, Hyunjin. I suspect I will be seeing a lot more of you now that I live with your boyfriend.” You waggled your eyebrows at Felix and that seemed to lighten the tension in the air as everyone started chortling.

The two headed back to their seats as a short, muscular (more like completely ripped) man with black hair walked up to offer a handshake. “Nice to finally meet you, I’m Seo Changbin. Chan-hyung talks about you non-stop, he’s been giddy like a school-girl for the past week waiting for you to get here.” The two of you turned and smirked at the dirty blonde Aussie, his ears slowly reddening.

“Shut it, bada kokkili.” Your confused look indicated you had no clue what the fuck that meant. Chan smirked at you knowingly. “Walrus. He hates it when we call him that.” You giggled behind your hand and Changbin punched Chan’s arm.

“Please tell me you’re nothing like this asshole?” Changbin said to you as he kept glaring at Chan.

“No, he wishes he was as badass as me.” You shrugged with a matter-of-fact look on your face.

“Have I subjected myself to a life full of verbal attacks by introducing you guys?”

“Hmmmm, yes. But you still love me.” You smiled smugly up at Chan and he poked his tongue out at you like a child.

You heard someone clear their throat next to you and you turned to see a doe eyed boy with round cheeks and a sharp jaw bone. His frame consisted of a broad chest that tapered down to a teeny tiny waist. “Oh! You must be Han Jisung!” He looked at you with an astounded expression and you realized it was probably weird how you came to that conclusion. You nervously scratched behind your ear. “Oh, sorry. Chan had told me that you looked like a quokka so I kind of assumed…”

“Hah! I can’t believe you got it right with that description!” Changbin guffawed from where he had left to sit at the table. 

“Well unfortunately your assumption was correct. I had just hoped he would have described me by my stunning good looks instead.” He gave you a huge, cheesy grin and stood proudly, his mousy brown hair swaying slightly. You giggled at him and accepted his offer for a hug. He was so fucking adorable that you wanted to stuff him in your pocket and keep him.

“Okay okay, out of the way.” The quokka was pushed aside by another animal looking man. This one, for some reason, looked incredibly like a puppy. You almost cooed at how adorable the boy was. He had fluffy brown hair like Jisung's and he was fairly tall as well. “I’m Kim Seungmin, I would run now before you subject yourself to this awful group of human beings.” He spoke in fairly good English and you laughed at his statement. 

“Did you say that in English so they wouldn’t protest?” You said amusedly.

“Maybe, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He shrugged and retreated back to his seat.

The next one was obviously younger than the rest, even if he stood taller than Chan. He had eyes like a fox and dimples deep enough to swim in. He was a bit timid as he shook his black hair out of his eyes. “I’m Yang Jeongin–”

“Baby Bread!” Hyunjin yelled across the table.

Jeongin glared back at him. “Anyway, nice to meet you.” He bowed and went to sit down.

That just left the man still sitting at the opposite end of the table.

“Min, come meet Y/N.”

The man looked up from his phone and you could feel his eyes pierce through your soul. He sighed dejectedly and stood up, walking slowly over to you like a cat stalking its prey. He was fairly tall and his movements flowed like water. He had intimidating cat-like eyes and cheekbones you could cut yourself on. His fiery, orange-red hair glowed warmly in the dim outside lighting, black leather jacket complimenting his entire look. He offered a muscular, veiny hand out to shake, which you timidly shook. This beautiful man’s presence intimidated you without reason.

You only marginally started to relax when he offered a small halfass smile and when he spoke, it punctuated his cute overbite. But as quick as it came, it left, leaving him with a bored face. “I’m Lee Minho. Hopefully you will adjust soon enough.” You watched as his eyes flit to the cut on your cheek and you slightly lowered your head in embarrassment. Without another word, he headed back to his seat. You wondered what you had done to put his panties in a twist until Chan threw an arm over your shoulder.

“Don’t worry about him. He only cares about eating, sleeping, and Han Jisung.” The boys laughed at the redhead while you and Chan took your seats as well.

“Oh, are you two also a couple?” You genuinely asked the two boys at the other end of the long table who just stared at you with dumbfounded looks. They looked at each other momentarily, then burst out laughing, clutching their stomachs while cackling, the rest of the group following in the laughter. You just sat in the chaos, wondering if you missed some sort of joke. Your eyes scanned over to Minho’s laugh and smile which was stupidly mesmerizing, probably because of the contrast to his previous behavior.

Minho started making kissy faces at Jisung as the younger pushed him away with a jokingly disgusted face. He had to wait until he stopped laughing, but Jisung finally spoke up. “No no no, we like to think we are soulmates, but only in a best friend type of way. No, the only happy couple here is Hyunlixie over there.”

Felix hid his smile and flushed cheeks behind his hands and Hyunjin flung his arm around his shoulder with a proud grin. Your subconscious wished you could experience that kind of feeling.

“So… Chan-hyung said that you are a year his senior, does that mean we should call you noona?” Jeongin spoke up from next to where you were sitting.

“Oh god.” You chuckled nervously. “That is very sweet Jeongin, but not necessary. Please speak casually. 'Noona' makes me feel like an old lady.”

“Well you’re not far off…” Chan muttered which earned him a flick on the ear. “Just call her Kiyomi! That’s what me and my family always call her!”

“Cutie, huh?” Seungmin said in English with a cute grin.

You exaggerated a sigh. “Much to my dismay, but yes. I’ve gotten used to it.” You said with a bemused face and the rest of the boys nodded with understanding.

“I like it!” Felix raised his glass. “To Kiyomi and her new life!”

The rest started to raise their glasses until Jisung halted them. “Oh shit, you two need drinks! We need to get you wasted ASAP.”

“Oh no no no, you do not want to see me drunk.” You waved your hands in front of your face in protest. Getting plastered would definitely not make a good first impression.

“Yeah, she is an absolute mess. Last time we got sloshed, I had to carry her ass three miles back to her house while she was singing the Macarena nonstop.” Chan rubbed over his eyes with one of his hands, overemphasizing his mortification.

“Shut it Chan!” You whisper-yelled at him.

“Oh-ho-ho now we HAVE to get you drunk. Get her a bottle of soju, stat!” Hyunjin slapped Minho on the back and the cat-like man glared at him as he stood up to go to the bar.

“I’m only doing this because I may or may not be interested in seeing this for myself.” He grumbled as he walked away.

“I’ll go help him carry the other drinks!” Jisung jumped out of his chair to chase after Minho. As the rest of the boys chatted, your eyes naturally gravitated to the window of the restaurant, revealing the two boys inside at the bar. You watched as Jisung threw his arm over the shoulder of the statue of a man next to him and yelled for the bartender. Minho slapped Jisung’s ass and the younger whispered something to Minho and they both cracked up laughing, showing glistening white teeth and bright smiles from the pair. You felt your stupid stomach flip upside-down in your gut.

Throughout the night, you looked around at the group of gorgeous men, Changbin and Minho screaming loudly across the table at each other as Hyunjin and Seungmin stirred the pot. Felix and Jisung laughing about something completely unrelated and Jeongin watching it all with an amused smile. You felt a weight lifting off your shoulders you didn’t know was there. They all seemed to welcome you with open arms and you felt your heart swell with warmth as your sights swiveled across the table and landed on Chan who was smiling brightly at you. You felt like you were finally home.

- - - - - - - - - -

Fucking lightweight. Two bottles of soju in and you already started to feel bubbly and light as if you were floating. The rest of the group wasn’t in much better shape though.

“Okay okay! What about this? Chan-hyung, have you two ever done the dirty deed?” Changbin shouted from the seat next to him, waggling his eyebrows at you two.

Jisung drunkenly elbowed him. “Binnie *hiccup* hyung! Too far! Tooooo far!”

You and Chan made gagging noises and disgusted faces. “What the fuck Bin? No! She’s like a sister to me! That’s disgusting!”

“OKAY I agree with Channie, but don’t call me disgusting you asshole!” You shoved his head to the side and he rolled his eyes.

“Ssshe is a bootiful woman you monster! Kiyomi, f’you efer needa real maaan, just cm’to me!” Jisung slurred heavily and pointed at you with a winky face.

“She could do so much better than any of your lame asses.” Chan laughed and slapped you on the shoulder, making your body wobble.

“Okay enough enough! My turn! Noona, if you could describe all of us as a type of animal, what would you pick?” Sweet Jeongin, of course, had such a humble question.

“Booooring!” Hyunjin rolled his head back in dramatic annoyance.

You poked your tongue out at him and turned back to the maknae next to you. “I would definitely say that you look like a fox. Seungmin looked like a puppy when I first laid eyes on him. Changbin looks like a mix between a rabbit and a… pig?”

“Yah!” Changbin looked at you with an offended frown, the whole group cackling in the background.

“Not in a bad way! I mean like one of those cute little teacup pigs!” He smiled in content, making an aegyo-like bashful face and poking his cheek. “Jisung obviously looks like a quokka. Hyunjin… hmmmm… a llama maybe… or a ferret? Felix looks like a baby chick and I always thought Channie looked like a wolf.” You turned your sights to the man at the end of the table. “Minho looks like… bunny? No no no, a cat! He definitely seems to have the mannerisms of one.”

The man looked up at you with wide eyes. “A cat?”

“Yeah! You are stand-offish, but I feel like if someone were to pet you, you would purr and pass out.” Everyone started laughing but the man looked stunned. Maybe you did have a little too much to drink. You just met this man and you were talking about petting him. “It’s a good thing! I promise!”

“Mhm, sure. Maybe I should call you a mouse to make it known that you shouldn’t fuck with me.” He gave a crooked smile with a glint in his eye. You internally shivered. Well… hot damn.

“Oh give it up, hyung. *hiccup* Y’ve got nooo claws! Anyway, it’s funny y’say that, noona ‘cause Minnie-hyung owns 3 *hiccup* cats himself!” Jisung slapped him on the back and chuckled at his grumpy friend.

“I don’t own them, they own me. They are my babies.” Minho grumbled.

Your eyes lit up and you leaned in closer. “Oh my god I looove cats! You have to let me meet them!”

“U-uh s-sure…?” The fiery haired man turned his face away and you couldn’t tell if his red cheeks were from your comment or from the alcohol. Where the hell did that reaction come from?

“Noona, you are going to go to Uni with us, right? When will you start?” You brushed off the use of honorifics Seungmin and Jeongin kept using, accepting that they all are just trying to be polite and it was probably second nature to them.

“Two weeks from now, I still need to settle in, get registered, and find a job.”

“Ooo! Work with us! I’m sure the *hiccup* boss would hire you f’we asked!” Jisung raised his hand to get your attention.

Chan interjected before you could respond. “Yeah good luck with that one, Han-ah. I have been trying to convince her of that ever since I found out she was moving here and she isn’t budging. Something about ‘I need to do this on my own’ or whatever bullshit she said.” The air quotes he made came with an annoying mimicking voice.

“Hey shut your gob, dumbass. So what if I want to be independent?”

“Ahhh an independent woman *hiccup* I like it!” Jisung winked at you and you giggled at his drunken flirtiness.

Minho grabbed onto his ear like a mother would to scold her child. “Cut it out, she is going to get tired of you before the night is even over.”

“Okay okay! I get it! M'sorry!”

“It’s okay Jisung, I think it’s cute.” You exaggerated the statement by saying it in baby talk and cooing at him. He blushed at your words and chuckled nervously as the rest of the group laughed at his flustered fumbling.

“Okay my turn!” Seungmin announced…

- - - - - - - - - -

You decided it was time to stop drinking when you could feel your emotional side take the reins of your brain, the feeling of the welcoming new friends overwhelming you. You, Chan, and Felix parted from the group and Chan had to help you walk down the street to get home with you yelling your farewells to the giggling group retreating behind you. Once you got home, Felix immediately went to his room and slumped down, only halfway on his bed, completely wiped out from the alcohol.

Chan took you to your room and sat you down on the bed. “Chaaaannie!” You held onto him with tears building in your eyes as he removed your makeup for you. “Channie *hiccup* I love you so fucking much Channie! I’m so happy to be here and meet your *hiccup* frieeeeends.” He chuckled at your idiocy and handed you a glass of water.

“If you're happy, then why are you crying, you big baby?” You threw a tiny fist at him.

“I am just sooo happy, I don’t deserve you! I don’t deserve this life! It doesn’t even feel real to be here right now….” He froze as you crossed your eyes to focus on sipping your water and bent down to level his face to yours.

“Y/N, don’t you ever say that again. You deserve all of the happiness in the world and more and I wouldn’t give you up for a goddamned thing, alright? I want to hear you say that you deserve happiness.” You just whined and shoved your alcohol-flushed face in his chest. “Say it Kiyomi…”

All you could think about was the huge fucking piece of your heart this man had claimed. “I… I deserve happiness.”

“There we go, girl. Now let's get you into bed.” He pulled back the puffy white comforter and tucked you into the softest sheets you have ever felt. “G’night sis, love you.” He kissed your forehead and you were out like a light.

- - - - - - - - - -

The first month of getting used to university was hard, you were older, but you started behind the rest of your group of new friends. But thank God that dumb luck got you to join some of their classes.

Chan was in your music theory class, Jeongin and Minho were in your fine arts class, and Hyunjin, Felix, and Minho were in your dance class. You managed to find a job at a local café as a barista close to Eunsincheo where Chan worked. Things were falling into place for you remarkably fast and you threw yourself into your studies, not wanting to squander the opportunities that were gifted to you.

“Do you ever stop studying?” Seungmin leaned in close to where you were sitting on the ground next to the coffee table to examine what you were noting down from your second-hand textbook. Chan and Changbin were at work, but the rest of the boys decided to come hang out at the Aussie flat for movies and snacks.

“Well, not only does my Korean suck ass, but I also have to make up for all the lost time these past years. I need to work extra hard if I want to get past basic courses so I can become a choreographer.” You were, in fact, currently brushing up on your Hangul at the moment.

“Hey, that’s Minho-hyung’s major too! Maybe you guys can study together!” Jisung looked at Minho next to him on the loveseat expectantly. He just stared at you with a blank face.

“Depends, can the mouse keep up with me?” He smirked at you and leaned forward as if he was challenging you.

“Well now there’s no way I can back down. Bring it on MeanHoe!” You sat up straight, proudly, as you reached out your arm to shake hands as if you were making a business agreement. His grip was strong, but softened as it lingered there.

“Hyung’s in advanced courses, aside from the dance class we all have together, he has two or three intermediate and advanced classes too.” Hyunjin blankly stated as his focus was directed at picking at a hangnail, long limbs sprawled across the couch and on Seungmin’s lap.

The feline grew a smug grin. “I won’t go easy on you noona, get ready for an ass beating.”

“Ooo kinky!” Oh god, please don’t conjure images, brain! You could feel your ears getting red at Jisung’s statement. Minho was quick to slap him over the back of the head. “Ow!”

“Han Jisung! Can you stop being dirty minded for two goddamned seconds?” Minho crossed his arms, obviously embarrassed too as he looked away.

“I’m sorry hyung, I’m afraid that’s impossible. He is utterly helpless.” Jeongin sighed from his spot on the floor on the other side of the coffee table.

“He’s just like a child, just start up a video game for him and he’ll shut up real quick.” Felix yelled from the kitchen where he was pulling the delectable smelling brownies out of the oven that he had made for everyone.

“That’s not… entirely true…” Jisung meekly mumbled as he scratched the back of his head.

“Minho-hyung really helped me with my Korean when I moved here, maybe he can help you too?” Felix looked at Minho who just hummed in response.

He lifted himself off the loveseat and sat next to you on the floor, examining your work. “Your handwriting is shit.”

You just scoffed and narrowed your eyes at him. “Thanks, Min. Very insightful.” You turned back to your work and kept writing in chicken scratch font. “Do I really want your help? I’d rather not have my pride filed down more than it already is.”

He just shrugged and plucked the pen from your hand, mid-character. He wrote down what looked like a pangram with his left hand and erased and re-wrote a mistake with his right hand. That threw you for a hot loop. “Repeat writing this until your writing is actually legible.” You glared at him and shoved him slightly, making him chuckle. “Don’t worry, even if you have an extremely thick accent, you seem to have an easier time talking than you used to.”

“Yeah, your accent is even thicker than mine when you speak Korean, and that’s saying something.” Felix said while he placed the neatly arranged plate of brownies and napkins on the coffee table. The boys crowded around to grab their treats and Minho placed the yummy, gooey, center piece on a napkin and handed it to you. Well that is suspiciously out of character.

“Awww but I wanted that piece!” Minho flipped off the whiny Jisung.

“Maybe you should’ve been quicker, then, Sungie.” Minho turned back to grab himself a brownie.

“Thanks, Min. What is it that you want from me to deserve this kindness?” You smiled to yourself as Minho narrowed his eyes at you.

“Would you like me to take it back?” You hid your chocolaty treat from his field of vision followed by an attempt of an intimidating expression. You felt a modicum of success when he turned to hide his suppression of a laugh.

Once Felix finished his duties of serving brownies and popcorn to everyone, he turned the TV on for everyone to watch Howl’s Moving Castle upon Jisung’s repetitive insistence. You turned your head to see that Minho was still sitting in his spot he took next to you on the floor. Stupid stomach for its stupid flippity flops.

You contemplated your actions for a minute, but then decided to go for it. “Hey Min.” You leaned in with a hushed tone so you wouldn’t interrupt the movie. He leaned his ear closer to hear you better. “You really want to help me study? I really am kind of at the ass-end of the curve when it comes to my studies.”

He shrugged. “Sure, why not? Do Tuesdays and Thursdays after art class work for you?” You eagerly nodded your head and he gave you a crooked smile.

“Thanks Minnie! I owe you!”

“Yes you do.” He chuckled and leaned away, indicating the end of the conversation. Well shit.

- - - - - - - - - -

You aren’t sure when it happened, but apparently you had fallen asleep because the next thing you knew, you were waking up in a dark room - lit only by the TV that had some random YouTube video on - with Chan shaking you awake. You were still on the floor in the living room, but everyone was gone save for Chan and Minho which you had evidently fallen asleep on. Not just on, in his fucking lap . Head fully rested on fully-jacked, muscular thighs. God, kill me now.

You had never sat up so fast in your life. “Ah shit!” You rubbed your eyes and tried to shake off the lightheadedness you felt from getting up too fast. “Shit, Min, I’m so sorry! Why the hell didn’t you wake me up?!”

He shrugged his shoulders as the two of you stood up. He slightly stretched his back and his neck and you felt mortified that he had stayed behind just because of your lazy ass. “It’s whatever, I was just entertained by watching videos and hearing you blab about something in your sleep.” He said nonchalantly.

“WHAT? Oh no. No no no, what did I say?” You hid your face in your hands as the two boys laughed at you. This is hell.

“I couldn’t really figure it out, it was in English.”

“Oh thank god.”

“Tell it to me, I’m sure I can translate!” Chan said with a chipper voice.

You grabbed onto your best friend’s shirt collar. “Do you want to die tonight, pup?” He sheepishly laughed and held his hands up in surrender.

“I sounded like you were having a nightmare, but don’t worry little mouse, I’m sure I’ll figure it out one way or another.” You looked back at Minho’s winking face with terror in your eyes. You side-eyed Chan and saw he was looking at you with worry. You knew what he was thinking and silently prayed he wouldn’t say anything, but you just huffed and marched off to your room like a petulant child.

“Good night!” The two shouted after you in unison as you slammed your door.

Behind the cover of your bedroom door, you ran your hands over your tired face and prayed that you didn’t say anything too embarrassing. You didn’t know how long he had stayed there after everyone had left, but the thought of him staying behind so he wouldn’t disturb you made your core throb. That’s stupid, he probably just wanted to wait until Chan got home. You convinced yourself to stop having a weird imagination, and with that, you showered off to rid you of your thoughts.

- - - - - - - - - -

The next Thursday afternoon around four in the afternoon , you were lounging on the couch scrolling through your phone when you heard someone knocking at your front door. When Chan opened it, the both of you were surprised to see Minho standing in the doorway with that damned stereotypical leather jacket on.

“Uh, hey Min, what’s up?” Chan looked confused as he gestured for Minho to come inside.

“Study sessions, remember? Tuesdays and Thursdays? Please don’t tell me your memory really is that bad or else this is a lost cause.” He said pointedly at you in response to Chan’s question.

You sat up quickly with a sheepish grin. “I didn’t forget! It just may have… slipped my mind…” Shit memory strikes again.

He rolled his eyes and threw his backpack down on the dining table and shucked off his jacket, flinging it over the back of the chair. “Well are you coming or not?” You quickly realized what he was indicating and you hastily grabbed your textbooks and papers from your room and sat down next to him.

“Well I guess I will leave you two to it, I’m going to go to the gym.” Chan walked out without another word. And you suddenly found yourself in an empty apartment with only your studies and Lee Minho to keep you company. Fuck, I should have thought this through.

“Okay, so where should we start?”

- - - - - - - - - -

It was probably around 8pm and studying was completely forgotten about about an hour and a half after you two started. You had asked to see a picture of his cats and it all went downhill from there. The two of you discussed anything from favorite foods to childhood memories. However, you elected to opt out of mentioning your family situation in favor of reminiscing your time with Chan. No one wants to hear about that shit show.

This was until Minho verbally backed you into a corner. “So what do your parents do for a living?” You could feel your blood turn ice cold. What should I tell him? ‘Oh yeah, they sell and smuggle drugs for a living. What about yours?’ 

Yeah, fuck that. “Oh, they just get odd jobs here and there.” You tried to be as vague as possible.

“Oh okay cool, did you live near Chan-hyung?”

“Nah, I lived about 5 miles from him. But I basically lived with him half the time.” You said with a nervous chuckle. He leaned his elbow on the table, laying his cheek on his fist as he was fully facing you in his seat.

“Your parents didn’t mind? My mom would worry herself to an early grave any time I spent the night at a friend’s house for more than a night. She definitely used to baby me.” He chuckled, not breaking eye contact with you, making you extremely flustered and intimidated. Stupid cat man. Your eyes couldn’t meet his for more than a couple seconds before they looked elsewhere in attempts to escape the inexplicable nervousness.

“No they didn’t mind… They weren’t those kinds of parents.” You looked down and played with the hem of your shorts. It was silent for a second and you were afraid you had maybe said too much. But as you looked back up into his eyes, you think it was possible that he realized that it was a sore subject by the way he was searching your eyes.

“Well that’s cool, no wonder you and Chan-hyung have so many experiences together.” He suddenly decided to stand up and make his way toward the kitchen. “I’m making dinner, any requests?”

You breathed a sigh of relief with the end of the previous conversation. “It’s our kitchen, Min. How do you know we even have the stuff to make what you want?”

He turned his head over his shoulder from where he is standing in front of the pantry and gave you a crooked smile. “I told Yongbok and Chan-hyung that they need to be adults and actually keep their kitchen stocked, even if it only gets used when I come cook for them.” He turned back to look in the walk-in pantry, speaking a little louder so you could hear. “I probably screwed myself by saying that, though, because now I cook for them all the time. ”

You moved from your position at the dining table, abandoning your schoolwork, and sat on the barstool at the island. “Am I really going to get the great Chef Lee Minho to cook for me? I am honored, but I'm not really a big eater.” You were used to eating nothing for days so your appetite wasn’t huge. Even if you were accommodated with three meals a day now, you were always painfully full before you finished your serving.

He walked out with a deadpan face and a few items in his hands. “Well if we are going to be friends, that is going to change. No arguments. How does chicken fettuccine alfredo sound?”

Your mouth starts watering at the mention of it. “My lord, that sounds amazing. You’re my hero .” You said the last part wistfully as if you were a damsel in distress and dramatically leaned your head back with the back of your hand draped on your forehead.

He scoffed at you and pulled a small bowl out of the fridge after he put on a pot of water to boil for the noodles. Once he placed the bowl in front of you, you looked at him with a confused face. “Kimchi for a starter.” He looked at you expectantly.

You looked warily at the delicious looking snack. “Min, if I eat this, I won’t be able to finish my pasta.”

He didn’t respond, instead, he pulled out a pair of chopsticks and raised a bite of kimchi to your mouth. “Say ‘ahhh’ little mouse!” He waved the food around and made airplane noises as if you were a child. You couldn’t help but laugh loudly at his antics and he used that opportunity to lightly press the tip of the food to your lips. You gave in and wrapped your lips around the chopsticks, cleaning it of the kimchi juices.

You were a little surprised to see him use those same chopsticks to pop a bite into his mouth for himself. You figured it was a perfectly normal thing to do between friends. Hell, you and Chan have shared almost everything, but something about the action coming from Minho made you feel different.

Once he tried to feed you another bite, you spoke before he could shove it in your face. “Aren’t you supposed to be cooking?”

He shook his head and continued his movements toward your mouth. “Water Isn't boiling yet. Open up.”

You couldn’t help but huff at the stubborn little shit. “Do you not want me to eat your alfredo? Because if I eat a starter, I’ll be too full for dinner!”

“That’s just the first step to get you to eat more!” As the food got closer, you had planned to just slightly push his hand away. However, as you realized that life still hated you, you accidentally whacked the chopsticks out of his hand and the kimchi flew directly onto Minho’s white shirt, trickling the red juices down the length of it. Of fucking course.

The two of you were silent for a moment, processing what just happened. He looked down at his shirt and then back up at you with an indistinguishable expression. “Oh shit. Oh fuck. I’m sorry, Min! I’ll go get you a new one! Just give me one sec!” You stood up to go grab one of Chan’s shirts but Minho stopped you in your tracks, standing right in front of you and looking down menacingly. You instinctively took a couple of steps back because you, of course, were a piece of chicken shit.

“Mouse. Come here.” He started stepping forward and, for some reason, you felt fear and excitement jolt up your spine. You continued to step backward as he grabbed the small bowl and chopsticks in one hand.

“Minnie. Min-min. Buddy-ole-pal, listen, I really am sorry! Lemme just–” You were cut off when you felt your back hit the wall next to the kitchen. He kept prowling toward you and you froze in place. He stepped until there was about a foot of distance between your faces.

“I said. Open. Up.” His voice was colored with intimidation and a touch of dominance that made you quiver. You meekly opened your mouth and he gently placed the kimchi on your tongue, slowly pulling back the chopsticks once your lips were wrapped around it. He smirked at you, mockingly.

You decided that if he wants to play games, you will too, you already ruined his shirt after all. As Minho was still holding up the bowl, you decide to throw caution to the wind as you dipped your hand straight into the bowl, pulling out a long string of kimchi and promptly rubbing it over the side of his face and mouth and letting the remaining cabbage leaf fall to the ground, splattering on the tile.

He looked at you, utterly gobsmacked while you cackled, using his momentary shock to escape the spot where you were caged in. Once you were out of reach, he spun around with a bone chilling smile on his face. “So that’s how you want to play? Fine.” He started to walk toward you swiftly, bowl in hand, and determination in his eyes. You were still chuckling as you ran on the other side of the island, making the two of you dance around it (ironically) like cat and mouse.

He then did something you hadn’t expected him to do, he grabbed some kimchi with his own hand and flung the dripping, red snack across the island. And of course, the fat, juicy piece landed directly on your chest, slithering from your collarbone right down to your cleavage and under your shirt.

You shrieked at the cold contact as Minho cracked up on the other side of the bar. As you squirmed your hand under your shirt and bra, Minho had found an opportunity to set the bowl down and lunge at you, only to tackle you to the ground with more kimchi in his palm. “Caught you, you neanderthal!” You couldn’t control your laughter as you hopelessly tried to push off the man hovering over you, bracketing you to the ground with his limbs. “Now, little mouse, open up.”

He dangled the piece of kimchi over your mouth between his two fingers. You giggled, but sucked your lips into your mouth, sealing off the entrance. You shook your head in defiance, letting him know full well that you weren’t giving up that easy. Not chicken shit anymore, huh?

“Gonna be a brat? Okay, fine.” He then took his free hand and started poking your side, making you flail in ticklishness. Your hands immediately flew to the hand trying to tickle you to push them off, but to no avail.

“Ack! Min– *heh* Minho! *haha!* S–stop! *gasp* I– *heh* I give up!” you almost had tears running down your face in laughter as he finally relented. Once you felt the relief from him halting his assault, your arms fell to the ground to the sides of your head. Your eyes locked onto the feline above you. His smirk was full of playfulness, but something else showed in his eyes that you couldn’t quite place, making your useless heart skip.

“That’s what I thought.” He held the piece up to your mouth once more and you kept eye contact as you licked your lips and slowly opened your mouth. You waited as he slid the kimchi into your mouth slowly, releasing it, and briefly catching his thumb on your lower lip. You felt your brain short circuit momentarily until you realized you needed to start chewing. “Yummy, yeah?” You nodded your head slowly. “There’s a good girl.”

He stood up and it took your frozen limbs a moment to clamber up to accept his offered hand, pulling you up and onto your feet. Once you stood, the cold, sticky feeling running down your chest made itself known again. As if on cue, the two of you look down at your ruined shirts and back at each other, bursting out laughing and clutching your stomachs.

You dug the remaining piece of kimchi out of your shirt as he politely looked away. “Let me go get you a new shirt.” You chuckled out after you could catch your breath.

“Bet. I’ll clean up our mess once I put the noodles on to boil.”

You started to wonder where Chan was once you entered his room to grab Minho a new shirt. He said he was going to the gym, like what? Three hours ago? Surely he’d be done by now. As you walked back into the kitchen to give Minho the shirt, you were frozen solid, dropping the shirt at the sight in front of you. Good LORD.

Standing in the middle of your kitchen was a completely shirtless human statue. Minho had stripped himself of the soiled cloth, leaving him clothed only from the waist down. You tried to get ahold of your bearings, but the man’s back was turned away facing the sink to clean his clothing, leaving your subconscious to stand and gawk over the expanse of skin.

You had seen Chan shirtless countless times, so why did this particular moment affect you so much? Minho wasn’t as jacked up as Chan was, but you could clearly see the bands of toned, lean muscle just beneath the surface of his milk and honey skin. Your eyes skimmed the muscles of his arms and drifted down to his deliciously veiny forearms and hands. If your eyes hadn’t had enough of a feast on his back, it was absolutely gorged when he turned to face you. Two toned pecs and a lean stomach that adorned a small scar. Your attention was snapped back to reality when your gaze lingered on the hem of his pants. Wait, shit, fuck, he turned around!

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” Your eyes flew up to his face to show that same annoying smug grin. 

You huffed and quickly grabbed the shirt off the floor and threw it at his face. “No need. I was only thinking of how gross it was to be half naked in a room where we EAT, let alone cleaning your nasty shirt in my kitchen sink.” You snatched his shirt from the sink and started to head to the laundry room.

“Yah! I’m not gross! And where the hell do you think you’re taking my shirt?” He grabbed your arm before you could get too far and spun you around to, once again, face his shirtless body. You refused to look anywhere in his general direction as you could feel your cheeks warm up. He must have picked up on your demeanor, because you could hear him lightly chuckle, forcing you to glance at his amused face. “Do I make you uncomfortable little mouse?”

“No… I just–”

“Juuust what?”

If you weren’t already being tortured by the current situation enough, life decided to rear it’s ugly head again. Before either of you two could react, the front door swung open and in stepped a suspiciously well dressed Chan. “What the FUCK?”

Now, you wouldn’t necessarily call Chan an irrational or violent person, but with Minho’s grip on your arm, his shirtless body, and an undistinguishable wet spot down the front of your shirt, you could definitely see cause for misinterpretation. “You motherfucker.” Chan started to march toward the two of you and you could see terror morph in the, typically unwavering, eyes of Minho. 

“Hyung I can expla—“ You watched in horror as you saw Chan’s fist fly through the air. You expected to see the innocent man get pile driven into the ground, but thankfully, Minho was quick enough to dodge the blow. You bolted over to Chan, jumping on the man and grabbing his arm to hold him back. Unfortunately, your tiny body failed to make him even budge. You might as well have thrown a teddy bear at him for how little it affected him.

“Chan stop! It’s just a misunderstanding! Please!” He looked down at your pleading eyes and back at Minho suspiciously. 

“Explain. Now.”

- - - - - - - - - -

After Minho put a shirt on and Chan calmed down, you briefly explained the situation. You excused yourself to shower off the kimchi juice as the boys talked it out. You felt awful that Minho had been subjected to that because of your own childish fuckary.

“God, why am I such an idiot?” You groaned at yourself as you pulled sweats and a tank top on, dampening the cloth with your wet hair. You stepped out into the living room and, to your amazement, Minho was still there. The two boys looked up at you in tandem with smiles on their faces and you let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank god, I was afraid I was about to walk out into a bloodbath.”

“Not today, Kiyomi. But you really need to stop being such a lunatic. You almost made me kill a man today.” Chan stood up from his spot on the couch next to Minho to come hug you.

“You almost committed murder and I’m the lunatic?”

“Yes.” The two boys said at the same time. You glared at the pair when the embrace was broken.

“You–!” You accusingly pointed a finger at the smirking redhead on the couch. “--aren’t any less guilty, mister!” You glared each other down, neither backing down for an instant. Little shit.

Chan let out a heavy sigh. “Well I’m utterly wrecked from the gym so I’m going to go shower. Goodnight guys.” The color of the tone in his voice sounded somewhat off.

“G’night!” You and Minho both said, still staring each other down.

After a moment of awkward silence, you cleared your throat in preparation to say something, but Minho beat you to it. “Pepperoni or cheese?”

“Uhm... wha—?” You were completely thrown. You searched your brain to think of what the hell he was talking about.

“Or supreme? If you’re into that. Just no pineapple or we can’t be friends anymore.”

“Did I miss something? Should I leave and come back? Because I have no clue what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“Pizza.” He said with his gaze down, simply scrolling through his phone. “The pasta got overcooked so I’m ordering pizza, now what do you want?”

Ah, yes. The dish that started this whole tiff. “Ummm I guess meatlovers?” You said as you slid over next to him on the couch.

“Hell yeah, a woman after my own heart.” Sir, don’t even. He tapped away at a few things on his phone and sat it down. “Placed, should be here soon.”

“Sorry I ruined dinner, Min. If it’s any consolation, I really was looking forward to trying your cooking. I guess that’s why I was so determined to save my appetite…” You looked down at your hands in embarrassment. All I can fucking do is cause trouble for people.

“Hey.” You felt a gentle hand being placed on your shoulder and you looked up to lock eyes with the redhead. “It’s no problem to me, it just means I’ll get to cook for us on Thursday.” His eyes are soft and he was sporting a gentle smile that you had never seen before.

You unattractively snorted at the comment. “You mean you’re still going to help me study after the trainwreck I led you to?”

“Of course, as long as you keep your dog at bay.” The two of you shared a lighthearted laugh and you silently thanked God that things aren’t awkward now. I mean, as long as you didn’t fuck shit up again.

- - - - - - - - - -

That following Saturday you had to go to work. You had already worked a few shifts before so you were almost getting the hang of it. Since you weren’t one hundred percent confident in your Korean, you didn’t take orders, you only made the coffee and handed it to the customers. You were fine with this because you didn’t have to talk to people (because the general populous of all humans suck ass), but you would still get to make tasty drinks and listen in enough to advance your Korean. 

It was around 7:50pm, about ten minutes away from the end of your shift when you heard the entry of a large group ringing the bell of the front doors that announced their arrival. You internally groaned at the sound, (not looking so you could focus on the current task at hand of making a vanilla latte that had WAY too many modifications asked for by a particularly picky customer) knowing how you were about to have to stay late to make all of those people's plethora of drinks. You didn’t completely mind though, more work meant more money.

You turned around to hand off the last customer’s latte and once it was handed off, you froze as you looked on at the rowdy group of men. Eight, gloriously bright smiling faces were all directed at you, you could feel yourself flush as you walked up to them in a hushed tone. “What the hell are all of you doing here?”

“What? We can’t come see our favorite barista?” Changbin pouted, most of the rest following in mimicking his exact expression. You rolled your eyes at the group. You felt like a damn adolescent being picked up from school early.

“How do you know I’m your favorite? You haven’t tasted my coffee yet, it could taste like shit.”

“Then shitty coffee will be my new favorite!” Felix replied cheerily. What a sweet little lying son of a bitch.

“Speak for yourself.” Seungmin smirked at you and left to find the large group a couple of tables. 

The order was easy enough, seven iced americanos and a caramel macchiato for Felix. After that, your shift was already done and you accompanied your rambunctious friends, all gulping down their delicious drinks.

“You down to go for some karaoke tonight? We are all planning on getting trashed because there’s no school or work tomorrow.” Hyunjin said with a dramatic blissed out expression at the end of his sentence.

“Except for boring ass Chan-hyung that is about as interesting as a wet sponge. For some reason, he needs to go meet up with a person from a group in his class to study.” Changbin shot a disappointed grimace at Chan.

“Yah! I already had that planned! You guys sprung this on me last minute!” Chan crossed his arms defensively. Interesting, you didn’t recall him saying anything about that…

“Whatever you say, hyung.” Minho spoke up for once. He looked at Chan with feigned belief, then his sights automatically locked onto yours. “What do you say? Coming or not?” 

You internally pondered to yourself. Would I rather go home and get an early sleep after work? Or would I rather hang out and go get sloshed with my friends? One hundred percent the latter. “I am in desperate need of a drink, let’s go.”

As you followed the boys out, Minho grabbed your arm. “You’re riding with me, Felix’s car is full.” You hesitantly let him pull you around the side of the café and your heart stopped beating. The man sat down on a fucking crotch rocket. As he straddled the motorcycle, he patted the seat behind him. “Well, are you coming or not?”

You realized that your eyes were still bulged out of your head as you shook yourself out of your stupor. “No no no, no fucking way am I going to get on that death trap! I’d rather walk there barefoot on hot stones before I subject myself to that contraption.”

He rolled his eyes into the back of his head and groaned. “Oh come on, I’ve been riding this thing forever. I’m a really good driver I swear.” He picked up the helmet behind him and got off the bike. When he walked toward you, he promptly lifted the hard shell of safety over your head and stuffed your head in it, gently fastening it tightly under your chin.

“M-Min… I don’t know about this…”

“Would you rather walk alone? It’s getting dark out and the place is pretty far. I’m sure we will be done and gone by the time you get there.” He grew that stupid smirk that you could see through the eye socket of the full-faced helmet.

“Fine, but my ghost will haunt you for eternity if you kill me.”

“I think I’ll take my chances.” He went to straddle the bike again and you hesitantly hopped on behind him. “Hold me tight.” You are flabbergasted when he daringly grabbed your hands and wrapped them around his waist. His leather jacket felt cold around your arms and your body pressed up against his back.

When you heard the motor start, you looped your fingers together to squeezed onto him for dear life and you felt him squirm in your grasp. “Geez, don’t fucking crush me!” He yelled over the sound of the motor, but you only let up a miniscule amount.

Your breathing accelerated as he kicked off and drove out of the lot. It was stupid really. You had experienced a lot more dangerous things than this. Maybe it was because you weren’t in control of the circumstances here. You were putting your full trust in this man and trust is something you were not accustomed to.

The ride was terrifying and exhilarating all the same. The wind whipping around your body and through your hair was an experience you have never felt before. Adrenaline ran through your veins and - it was hard to explain - but you felt... free. You couldn’t hold back the laugh that bubbled up in your chest and you saw Minho slightly turn his head with a smile on his face. You threw your head back and let your mind ease itself of it's worries.

- - - - - - - - - -

It was about 11pm and you were currently singing ‘DDU-DU DDU-DU’ by Blackpink with Jeongin and Jisung, mostly laughing and stumbling into each other in attempts to dance. Normally you danced phenomenally, but at that moment, you were hammered enough to just let loose and flail your body in whichever direction fate had decided for you. The group was all laughing and taking videos of you three, but you didn’t care, you were lost in the moment.

When the next song came on, you slumped back onto your seat next to Minho on the long booth, circling around the small room to accommodate everyone around a couple tables. You felt hot from all of the dancing and laughter as your limbs and head laid limp against the seat. “Have fun?” Minho turned his gaze to you from where he was sitting by your side.

You let your head fall to the side from where it was leaned back against the head of the booth. The colorful and flashing lights flickered across his face, creating little dancing sparkles in his already gorgeous eyes. “Hell yeah, w’should do dis more offen.” Your drunken body leaned towards him and glared at the man. “Why didn’t y’look like y’were hav’n fun when I was *hiccup* singin’ and dancin’?” You bumped a tiny fist against his chest that somehow looked like it was getting closer. “You just sat there ‘n stared like y’hated me!” Your lower lip moved to jut out in a deep pout. You felt like you were sitting on a boat, waves rocking and wavering your movements.

He stared at you with a cheeky smile on his face for a moment. “Psh, I don’t hate anything, too much effort. I just wanted to watch you from behind.”

Now you weren’t sure if that phrase was misinterpreted in translation, or if you were just too drunk, but that definitely sounded pretty damn flirty. “You’re a teeease Minnie! Why’re all of y’guys sooo handsome? I feel like a nasty wart in th’group!” You twisted your eyebrows in confusion, already forgetting what just came out of your mouth.

He belted out a melodic laugh that made you swoon from your inebriation. “That’s sweet, but I wouldn’t say you’re quite like a wart. Maybe more of a mole.” He cackled when you shoved him over. “What?! A mole is more permanent!” You refused to let up your glower. Cheeky little asshole. “Kidding! Kidding! You’re gorgeous, little mouse.” His gaze was a little cloudy as well and you could see the indication of the five shots of soju everyone took on his red cheeks.

“Nooo y’r jus drunk ” You slurred out, poking your tongue out at him.

“Oh I’m the one who’s drunk?” He fully faced your staggering body in the booth to challenge you.

“Yeah!” You leaned forward, puffing your chest out to attempt intimidation. He let out a small chuckle and the both of you realized just how close you were as your eyes met each other. However, for some reason, neither of you moved away. Is the alcohol making us abandon all reason? You could've swore that his eyes had flit down to your lips, but you could’ve also imagined it. After all, you were a stupidly high level of plastered.

“Do... do you think you would wa–” Minho’s statement was cut off by a drunken Jisung sprawling his body over both of your laps.

“I looove y’guys sooo mush!” He was clinging onto Minho’s waist. “Wan’it t’always be like this…”

The two of you giggled. “Me too, Ji…” You smiled down at the quokka, but you refused to turn your attention back to Minho for the rest of the night.

- - - - - - - - - -

After a few months of you working and getting used to study sessions with Minho, the two of you had gotten extremely close. That also meant that you got extremely close with Jisung too, because those two men were just about attached at the hip. Minho was even comfortable enough now to hang out with you aside from classes and study sessions. However, the topic of the karaoke night was never brought up.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were your days scheduled for your dance class, and Tuesdays and Thursdays were scheduled for your art class right before tutoring. This meant that, unless you spent the weekend holed up doing shit-all, you would see Minho every day. You didn’t necessarily mind it, but it did absolutely no help to quell the germinating feeling in your gut of pure tension any time the two of you were alone.

Dance classes were the hardest. Not the dancing of course, you loved the dancing, feeling your inhibitions fly out the window as you moved to the beat of the music. You revered the art of it. No, the burdensomeness of it came from your fiery-haired classmate that was a dance god .

Hyunjin wasn’t kidding when he said Minho was well ahead of the curve when it came to dance. During your long, late-night talks with Minho, he had said he had been dancing ever since the start of middle school and never stopped. Any chance he could - unless he was working at his job assisting the local performing art’s center as an intern, or hanging out with friends - he was dancing.

You could never fully focus in class as you watched his stupid graceful movements with his stupid unholy physique like he’s a fucking stupid dance statue from hell. The worst part is, when you had decided to be taken under his wing before all the tutoring crap was decided, he had taken to assisting you with your technique in dance on top of helping with your other classes.

First it was simple instruction, a little ‘higher’ here and a ‘more powerful’ there, no problem at all. Welcome even. That’s until he started physically guiding you. Small touches to fix your posture which then turned into lingering hands that were full-on spotting your moves. You didn’t protest. How could you? When his hands felt like god’s fucking homemade buttermilk and melted you down to the faux-wooden padded flooring.

“It needs to be more angular with your posture, but not stiff.” You had taken a day from your tutoring to go to the round-the-clock student accessible practice rooms. You thought it was a good idea to get ahead in your class in order to achieve your choreography dreams sooner. It all made sense on paper, but your fatal mistake was your choice of instructor.

Minho gently placed his hands on your shoulders - while you were frozen in your previous dance pose - and pushed them down to relax them (as if you could possibly relax). This was followed by him gently placing his solid hands lower. One on the lower dip of your back and the other on your abdomen as he straightened your posture. 

“You need to be able to feel the tension in your core.” He said, squeezing your abdominal muscles for emphasis. Trust me, I’m feeling the tension, you ungodly son of a bitch. You wondered if he knew what he’s doing to you. If he thought was fun making your breath hitch any time he touched you. Well two can play at that game, asshole.

You grabbed his forearm and held it in the proper position for the score, trying to look as unaffected as possible. “Should I roll my arm like this?” Your hand slowly glided up to rest on his shoulder. “Or should I just roll my shoulder back?” His mind looked staggered at your sudden boldness and a light pink dusted over his cheekbones. Your expression stayed utterly neutral. Pro move.

You looked at his lips twitch in an attempt to hold back a smile. “I think you should focus more on moving this.” He abruptly stood behind you and put a hand on your shoulder blade, pushing forward while holding your upper arm to roll back. The small stretch you felt from the pull brought a sensation of euphoria through your muscles. Embarrassingly, your mouth let out a small sigh of relief without warning.

“Feel good?” You heard him say in a low, husky voice, suspensefully closer to your ear. You felt stirring heat shoot straight to your lower abdomen. You could smell the pure sweat and testosterone oozing from his body and you felt like you could get high off of it with how lightheaded it was making you.

“Heh, yeah. Maybe I should have stretched more.” You found yourself leaning into the touch, not realizing the intimacy of it all. He started rubbing small circles with his thumb on your bare arm, still looming behind you like a predator. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

“Maybe we should call it quits for today.” You could feel his hands leave you and you wanted to cry from the loss of the delicious sensation. “Let’s go eat.” You internally fumed at the feline, feeling like he was just playing with his food. Stupid cat.

- - - - - - - - - -

On Saturday after your shift, it was around eight at night and you were more than happy to get home and get in an early sleep. However, when you gently opened the door to your flat, your eyes were scarred beyond repair. Chan and some random girl - as naked as the day they were born - were sucking face on the couch. They obviously hadn’t heard you enter because the chick was still riding Chan’s dick like her life depended on it. Your cheeks flushed with unparalleled embarrassment and you immediately turned around and gently shut the door behind you. You would rather sleep anywhere else than interrupt that mess.

You shivered slightly from the cooling weather (and partly from what you just witnessed) and thought of where you could go. Jisung and Jeongin shared a room in the university dorms as well as Changbin and Hyunjin. Seungmin still lived with his parents so that only left Minho. Of fucking course. Why does it have to be Minho? You groaned as you pulled out your phone.

“What's up?” Minho mumbled on the other line sounding like he’s eating something.

“Hey, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“If it involves heights, it's a hard pass.”

“No I nee– wait, you’re afraid of heights? Awww what an adorable little kitty.” You mockingly cooed at him.

“Yeah yeah, I’m a scaredy cat, I get it, I get it. What’s the favor?” You heard him take another bite.

“Well, I just witnessed the most horrifying scene I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t think I’ll be able to burn it out of my memory for as long as I live.” You knew you were being dramatic, but this particular occasion called for it.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Worry colored his voice and your heart swelled. Damn you, don’t be sweet to me.

You lightly chuckled. “It depends on what you classify as being ‘okay’. I just found Chan and some chick butt-ass naked on our couch fucking their brains out.”

“Awh nasty, not cool, hyung.” There was the faded voice of Jisung in the background saying ‘hell yeah, get it hyung!’

Your heart sank. “Oh shoot, you have Ji over, sorry! I’ll just ask someone else.”

“Wait–” He halted you, slightly choking on the food he was swallowing. “What did you need?”

You sighed dejectedly. “I was trying to find a different place to sleep tonight and you’re the only person who has a couch I can crash on.”

“Well Ji was just about to leave, actually.” You could hear a faint ‘No I was n–’ and a thud, followed by an ‘ow!’. For your own sanity, you pretended you didn’t notice the background exchange so your brain wouldn’t break from over processing.

“I don’t want to impose.” You said politely, only half meaning it because, let’s be real, you were really desperate.

“No imposition at all, come on over. I even have a spare toothbrush if you want it.”

Before you knew it you had already started walking. “You’re a fucking saint, I owe you Min. Just text me the address.”

Luckily, the bus stop next to your condo was a direct line to Minho’s apartment. You knew you had the right building when you saw his bike parked in the lot next to the complex. You knocked on the door tentatively, hoping it was the right flat and you heard rustling on the other side. Once the door swung open, you were met with a disheveled and panting Jisung.

“Do I want to know why you look utterly fucked out?”

Minho blushed as he walked up, looking the same as Jisung. “I just had Ji help me clean up real quick, my flat was a landfill.”

“Dude, I’m the one that’s barging in at nine at night. I already feel bad enough springing this on you, let alone subjecting you two to last minute spring cleaning.” You stepped inside as they gestured for you to come in.

“Like I said before, it’s no problem.” Minho looked down at you with a contagious smile.

“Well I really need to get home and do… things? Dishes? Yeah, dishes. See you guys later!” And with that, Jisung was out the door and it was just you and Minho. Shit this was a bad idea. Your stomach turned with nervousness. You’d been alone with him before, but you felt a lot more tense when you were alone with him in his private living space.

“Want something to drink? I have… water and… water? *heh* Oh! And gin.” He started walking toward the kitchen.

“Ew, who the fuck drinks gin?” 

He shrugged. “No one, but I have it nonetheless.”

You sauntered inside behind him and took in your surroundings. One bedroom and one bathroom on the wall on your right, and the space that stretched out on your left first held a kitchen. Small, but big enough to have counter space and an island. The far wall had two small windows with a TV setting between them, sitting atop a simple, long coffee table. The couch stood a few feet from the island behind it, leaving just enough room between the TV and the couch and couch to the island to squeeze through comfortably.

Overall, it was probably only slightly larger than your apartment in Australia. “Why the hell not, I need my mind to escape Chan’s fucked out image from my head anyway.”

“A well deserved reason.”

“By the way, where are your cats? I wanted to meet them!” You walked over and took a seat on the couch, searching for them as Minho brought over two glasses of ice and a large bottle of Tanqueray.

“Back at home in Gimpo, I can't afford a place big enough for them yet.” You silently nodded your head, slightly sad you wouldn’t get to meet them. “Maybe I can take you there some time to meet them, mom’s a really good cook.” Your mind went haywire and as you looked over, his expression is extremely blasé. Calm the fuck down, your just like any of the rest of the guys in the group, no need to make it weird.

After the drinks started flowing and you two conversated about shit-all on the couch, you started to get less tense. “Uhk this stuff is disgusting, but I think I’m starting to get used to it.” You took another gulp of gin with a disgusted face.

“No shit Sherlock, that’s your third– no, fourth glass tonight.” There was that melodic laugh again that made warmth shoot up your spine.

“Well you’re not any better, you thirsty little kitty!” You coo at him and pinched his cheek that was reddening to match his ears. He didn’t protest like you thought he would though, he just froze and stared into your eyes with a fond expression. Your heart started beating fast and the nice, air conditioned apartment started feeling extremely hot.

The moment of silence made you clear your throat before speaking. “So, um, your apartment… it’s really nice.”

“Heh, yeah right, this place is a shithole. I’m just living here so I can save money.”

“No really!” You flushed from your suddenly loud outburst. “This place is ten times better than the flat I lived in back in Australia, and that was a one bed, one bath too.”

“One bedroom? Did you share the room with your parents?” He looked dumbfounded.

“Ew, GOD NO. I slept on the couch most nights. Some nights I would just go to Chan’s when my parents needed me gone for a day or two.”

“Needed you gone?” His expression turned from dumbfounded, to outright bewildered. This was when you realized that the alcohol had gotten to the point again where your mouth would blab out words without allowing you think about them first.

“Oh… yeah… But that’s why I don’t mind a night away from my flat, sleeping on the couch is no stranger to me.” You chuckled and tried to sound lighthearted to relieve the tension in the air, to no avail. His face fell. Shit, you let too much slip again.

He stared at you with two black pools of eyes, holding galaxies in each one. His expression was indiscernible. The air was knocked from your lungs while looking at his gorgeous face, flushed with alcohol. His eyes sank down to your lips just like last time during karaoke, but this time, they lingered there. Your eyes flit to his too, taking in his plump bottom lip, overlapped with the steep incline of his upper lip that tapered up to two round peaks at the center.

You wanted to blame the alcohol, the lack of sleep, the hard day’s work, anything. But really you just wanted to see what he tasted like, felt like. Apparently he had the same thoughts as your lips gently collided with one another with just a whisper of a kiss. It was sweet, humble really. Until it wasn’t. 

Once his hand reached up to cup your face, you tilted your head to deepen the kiss. You flung your arms around his neck, one hand running through his fiery hair, and the other caressing his back. You could feel the hand on your cheek slide its way down to your neck as his other hand took purchase on your waist. His tongue sneaked out to gently seek out your bottom lip and you eagerly allowed its entrance, exploring and tasting each other’s mouths freely. He tasted like alcohol and something sweet that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. He smelt like heaven with his earthy and citrus scent as you felt fire run down your abdomen and both of your breaths started to get heavy. 

You pressed closer to him, chests touching and bodies turned to face each other on the couch, knees interlocking. The kiss started to get hungrier as you ran your fingers through his hair, giving soft little tugs. His hands traveled from your waist to your hips, feeling his fingers on your skin where your shirt was riding up. His hands felt like fire and you relished in the intoxicating sensation.

You had abandoned all better judgment when you sat up to straddle Minho, lips never breaking contact. Your kisses began to get sloppy and he groaned as he moved from your lips to your jaw, to your ear, and to your neck. Oh god, yes. You gasped at the light sucking you felt on your pulse point. You instinctively pulled yourself closer, wanting more, needing more, moving from his lap to being flush against him. Also flush against… something else…

You were probably soaking in your panties as you felt the bulge beneath his jeans. Against all reason, your body naturally grinded against it. Both of you moaned in tandem and your head flew back in ecstasy, giving him better access to your neck. His gentle sucking turned into wet, open-mouthed kisses that trailed further and further down. 

You knew that you should probably stop, but it all felt too delectable to even consider that. Your nerves were vibrating from the feeling of his tongue and hands against you. You wanted to feel him everywhere. You couldn’t find the will to stop grinding your sensitive clit over his erection, making you ever wetter and the bulge ever harder. The both of you were a panting mess and the sounds of obscene moans filled the room as you grinded faster. “M-Min–” You could start to feel the warmth of his hands travel up your back under your shirt and you keened . “M-more…” You could feel his shaky hands act upon your whispered words as he started to fumble with the clasp of your bra…

The loud sound of the vibration of your phone on the table made the both of you jump and look at each other in realization of your current position. You flew off of his lap as if he were made of fire and looked at your phone. Chan .

“Oh fuck, he’s probably wondering where I’m at.” You ran your hand through your disheveled hair.

“O-oh y-yeah… go ahead, I’ll, um… I’ll go get some things together for you...” Minho stumbled into his room and closed the door in a rush.

You took a shaky breath and pressed your palm to the beading sweat on your forehead. It took a second for you to collect yourself and answer. “H-hey Channie.”

“Where the fuck are you? I’ve been worried sick!” He sounded mad, but you knew it was just because he had been overthinking your safety again.

“I’m at Min’s place, I… um… saw that you had someone over so I’m staying with him for tonight.” Silence followed.

Followed by more silence.

“Hello–?” You’d wondered if you lost connection.

“What did you… *ahem* see exactly?” He sounded terrified.

“Oh nothing much…” A sigh of relief from the other end. “Just your disgusting naked ass on our couch with some chick riding your dick like she was late on her rent.” You stated matter-of-factly, knowing he was probably dying on the inside.

“Noooo, fuck! Shit, Kiyomi, I’m so sorr–”

“Please, Chan, it’s fine. Having roommates doesn’t mean you have to hold back on getting your dick wet.”

“Ew.”

“Don’t ‘ew’ me! Your not the one who had to see your best friend fucking on your damn sofa! Which, by the way, gross . I expect you to disinfect that thing immediately.”

“I know hun, I’m sorry… I didn’t mea–” He sounded absolutely ashamed of himself.

“I know, I know. It’s done with, just fuck on your own bed in the future please?” You rolled your eyes even though you knew he couldn’t see it.

“Of course, Kiyomi. I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

“Damn straight you will.”

“So are you coming home now or staying there?” He sounded apprehensive and the previous actions between you and Minho flit through your mind.

“Chan, it’s like, what, eleven at night? No way I’m going home at this hour.” You said as you looked at the time on your phone.

“Yeah, you do sound pretty exhausted.”

“Work and drinking a fifth a bottle of gin will do that to you. Gross, I know.” You obviously hadn’t completely sobered up yet either because you had no idea why you said that.

“Wait, the two of you are drinking?” He started to sound like a riled up father-figure. Why were you not surprised?

“Calm down Chan. It’s Min we’re talking about here, he’s fine.” More than fine. Wait. Stop thinking these things stupid fucking brain!

“Yeah I guess you’re right, just make sure you’re getting plenty of sleep okay?”

“Okay.”

“And don’t forget to drink plenty of water and brush your teeth.”

“Okay! Okay! I get it mom .” You muttered at him with a condescending tone.

“Good… Well… love you sis. I’ll see you tomorrow, kay?”

“Kay, love you too. G’night Channie.”

“Good night little Kiyomi.” You smiled to yourself as the call ended, heart warmed with affection for your best friend.

You were dragged back down to reality as you heard a small clearing of a throat behind you. You braced yourself for the worst as you turned around to face him. He was holding a towel, some clothes, and a toothbrush stacked in a neat pile.

“Everything cool?” He mustered up the courage to talk.

“Yeah, I told him to clean up whatever…” You shivered in disgust.”... mess they made and now he owes me.” You said with a smug smile. You walked up and grabbed the stack of items in his hands. “Thanks.” You tried to make a beeline for the shower but he stopped you with a hand on your shoulder.

“Hey, um, sorry about… earlier… I think we both just had too much to drink.” He chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his neck. “I really hope things won’t be weird between us now.” Your heart ached with these words, wanting to erase any uncertain feelings.

“Of course it’ll be weird. But we are always weird so it comes with the territory right?” You joked to try and ease the tension. He still locked eyes with you with a nervous expression. You sighed and put a friendly hand on his own that was still placed on your shoulder, making him go rigid. “Don’t worry Min. We’re friends, no drunken mistake is going to change that.” Mistake, that’s all it was, a mistake. You internally tried to drill that into your brain. “It’s only weird if we make it weird, right?”

You felt him physically relax under your hand. “Right…”

“Cool, I'm go gonna get ready for bed and use all of your hot water. Good night!” You said with a convincing lilt of your voice.

“Heh, good night little mouse.” You could feel your face flush and you quickly turned to lock yourself in the bathroom before he saw.

You took an almost painfully hot shower and attempt to overpower the heat in between your legs as your mind unintentionally floated back on yours and Minho’s… encounter earlier. You tried to escape the thoughts as you got changed into Minho’s clothes. You tried to escape the thoughts as you brushed your teeth. You tried to escape them as you walked out to fall asleep on the couch. It was almost working, until you rounded the back of the couch to be met with the beautiful, fiery haired man that had been plaguing your mind, clad in nothing but some tattered sweatpants and sprawled along the length of the sofa.

You, once again, stared in awe at his beautiful naked and sculpted torso and had to shake yourself back to reality. “What’re you doing, Minnie? I want to go to sleeeeep.” You whined and nudged the arm that was holding his phone up to his face.

His eyes flicked over to his clothes that you’re wearing and then back at his phone as he responded. “You’re not sleeping on any damn couch ever again. Take the bed, the sheets are clean.”

You got slightly annoyed. “Damnit Minho, I told you that I’m perfectly fine with the couch. Now move your ass!”

He glared back at you. “Make me.”

Make him? God, he was being such a child. You played his little game and grabbed him by his ankles to swing them off the couch, but he didn’t budge an inch. You could see his thigh muscles clench beneath his pants so he could plant himself into the cushions. “Ugh! Minho!” You sat on top of him and tried to squeeze your butt in between Minho and the back of the couch, attempting to roll him off of it. He started laughing heartily at your struggling attempts.

“Tsk, you’re so stubborn.” You heard him mutter before he rolled out from under you and grabbed your wrists. Before you knew it, he was hiking you up over his shoulder like a ragdoll and carried you to the bedroom.

“Minho! What the hell?!” You threw tiny fists at his back but couldn’t stop the giggles that were bubbling up in your chest. You suddenly felt that same warmth in between your legs at the prospect of being manhandled as he pulled back the covers and threw you on the bed, wrapping you tightly into the sheets.

“Stay.” He pointed at you like an owner training his dog. You glared and poked your tongue out at him. Seeing as you weren’t trying to get up, he smiled. “Good girl.” A shiver wrecked your body from hearing the words. Go straight to hell, Lee Minho . He proudly walked out the door and gently shut it behind him, leaving you alone in the darkness, buried in his scent.

- - - - - - - - - -

Fortunately, things weren’t super awkward between the two of you after that. Yes there were times where physical contact was followed by blushing faces and study sessions where the two of you were alone seemed a bit... tense. But other than that, everything was completely fine. More than fine actually. And it seemed Chan had noticed as well.

“What’s going on between you and Minho?” The two of you were snuggled up under the blankets on the couch one Monday before bed, watching a classic anime you both loved when Chan questioned you out of the blue.

“W-what do you mean?” You nervously chuckled, being thrown completely off guard.

“I mean that you two seem to be getting pretty close lately.” He eyed you suspiciously.

“Channie.” You laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’ve already told you, you don’t have to be jealous, hun. You will forever be the top spot amongst my friends.” You exaggerated your consolation.

He rolled his eyes at you and shrugged off your hand. “That’s not what I mean, Kiyomi. You two just…” You looked at him more intensely, scanning his features for a hint at what was going through his mind. “...I mean, okay. For example, he told me he was worried about you and your family situation. He obviously means something more to you if you are telling him about that shit.”

Your eyes widened in disbelief. “He said that?” He nodded in a demeanor that screamed ‘well duh’. “You didn’t tell him anything did you?”

“No, he didn’t ask.”

“Good.” You replied immediately. “I might have told him about my ‘couch’ situation growing up due to idle chatter and a dizzying amount of alcohol, but that’s it. I don’t ever want our friends to know more than that. I’d rather that life be dead and gone.” He sighed and held your hand.

“I know, hun. I know. I just want to protect you. I trust all of our friends unconditionally, so when it comes to anyone else, I don’t think you are quite ready for any… commitments yet. I don’t want you to feel backed into a corner ever again.”

You pulled your hand from his grasp. “What do you mean commitments?”

He looked at you like you had taken away his puppy. “I- I just mean I don’t think you’re ready for any kind of relationshi–”

“Channie, please. I know what I am and am not ready for. Are you seriously telling me not to date?” You huffed and looked away with a disbelieving smile.

He glowered at you and his voice became more stern. “No, I’m just saying that you shouldn’t tread in unknown waters. People are dangerous–”

“Oh please, drop the whole ‘father figure’ act, Chan. I can protect myself.” You started to feel hot steam rise up in your ears, ready to burst.

“Y/N, you are defenseless when I’m not with you and are nowhere near experienced enough to make that judgme–” His harsh voice popped your self control like a bubble.

“Oh, inexperienced because I’m a virgin? Or defenseless because I was almost raped? Which one is it Chan? Because as I see it, I am still older than you. My ‘defense’ comes from my willingness to attack a fully grown drug dealer and my ‘experience’ comes from years of hard work and intuition. Not just from getting someone's dick shoved in me, not Minho’s or whoever the fuck else’s you think I’m slutting around for.” You felt hot tears run down your face that you quickly wiped away. “Stop trying to baby me, Chan. If I want to date, I’m going to date. If I want to fuck around, I will fuck around. Whatever it is, it’s none of your goddamn business!”

You stood up and marched to your room. “Y/N, get back h–!” You slammed your door behind you before he could get in another word. You were fuming. Why did he always have to act like he was the big brother? Why in the world should your love life be dictated by what your past experiences were? And why the fuck did he have to bring Minho into that conclusion?

An image flashed through your mind as if to answer that last question. An image that was completely unwelcome while you were this heated and riled up. An image consisting of you and said redhead drunkenly grinding on his couch in your sploosh-drenched panties. All other thought processes flew out of your mind like dandelion seeds as more obscene images continued to invade your thoughts. You shook your head to try and get rid of them, although they were definitely more welcome than the encounter you just had with Chan. 

You decided to start up a hot bath in hopes of relaxing all of the tension buzzing around in your body. However, as you sunk into the much needed seamy pool of water, your mind drifted back to Minho. Why was he so infuriating? It’s my mind, I should at least have control over that. He had no right to make himself a home there, rent free even! You huffed in annoyance and closed your eyes, trying to think of the sudsy water surrounding you. 

You tried to meditate on your slow, controlled breaths. Listening to the foam of the bubbles dissipating in little crackling noises. Feel the warmth of the water encasing your legs, thighs, hips. Hips . His hands were even hotter than the water you were currently soaking in. The hands that ran over your neck, your waist, your hips, and under your shirt up your back.

Fucking Chan. If only Chan hadn’t called, you would finally find out what Minho felt like in other areas. You subconsciously dipped your hand down to your aching core, flicking the pad of your thumb over the sensitive bead of your clit. You let yourself be swallowed by pleasure as you felt your mind wander. Fuck it.

Could he have been thinking of going further too? He had been working on your bra, so you had a pretty good guess as to where it was leading. Your unoccupied hand snaked up your torso to rest on your breast, tweaking the red bud at the tip and rolling it between your fingers. You let out a long sigh. His hands would have held them so much better than you could. The rubbing on your clit took you back to the feeling of you grinding it against his rock-hard bulge. You added a bit more pressure to your efforts and let your imagination run rampant.

You envisioned yourself being pressed against his silky sheets and imagined being touched where you most wanted him. You let the finger that was circling your clit glide down in between your folds. You moaned as you entered yourself, imagining all the while that it was him entering you, curving right up into your sweet spot. Staring down at you with that intimidating gaze and those long, dark eyelashes that fanned over his cheeks. Drinking in your moans as if to quench his undying thirst. Ramming hard into you faster and faster and faster until you were cumming. And you were cumming. 

Your body went rigid through your orgasm, then completely limped overall as you came down from your high. You could call it ‘post-nut clarity’ or whatever, but you wanted Minho. You wanted one of your close friends more than you’ve ever wanted anyone. And that scared the shit out of you.

- - - - - - - - - -

It was a few days after your’s and Chan’s fight and you still refused to discuss it with him. You knew it was childish, but you were too proud to say anything until he apologized. So here you sat, completely devoid of all emotions in your art class next to Lee Minho, avoiding eye contact at all costs.

It was Thursday and the two of you had finished your individual assignments, yours being a self portrait and his being an abomination of a drawing of a cat. Or as he liked to call it ‘Lee-caso’s latest and greatest masterpiece’. The professor bathed the room in darkness as she projected a film of some sort of historical piece of art or whatever, and you could see Minho lean into you from your peripheral vision.

“Hey little mouse.” A shiver ran down your spine as you felt the blow of the warm whisper coming from his lips.

You leaned in closer as well, keeping your head facing forward so as to not arouse suspicion from the professor (and so you wouldn’t have to face him at this proximity). “You know you sound extremely creepy when you say that? Especially while whispering?”

He chuckled and you could swear you could hear a darkness behind it. You stiffened as he leaned in even closer. “Would you rather me whisper something else, Kiyomi?” Fuck… Shut the fucking fuck up… fucker.

White hot pumping started to feel painfully evident in your veins and you felt your ears burning bright red, hoping he, and Jeongin across the table, wouldn't notice. You jabbed your elbow at him in annoyance. “What do you want, Min?”

“I just wondered if you were going to Seungmin’s new place tomorrow night? I know you’re not working and he wanted us all to stay the night and get shit-faced to celebrate the liberation from his parents.”

You tore your gaze from the front of the room to face him, suffocatingly close. “A-all of us are going?” 

He flashed a crooked smile at you. “Yeah, you in?”

For some stupid ass reason your stomach was doing somersaults and you wanted to dunk your head in an ice bath from how heated you were. Why the fuck did this infuriating, beautiful piece of meat affect you so much? Stupid piece of meat.

You knew it wasn't not his fault, not really. He was only being himself, even if it wasn't at all fair that his natural self looked like a goddamn masterpiece every time you saw him. “For sure, I could definitely go for a little inebriation right now.” More than a little really.

“Cool, I’ll let him know. Oh, and you won’t see me for tutoring today or in class tomorrow ‘cause I have plans and an appointment during those times.”

“Oh, okay cool, what appointme–” You were cut off by the flickering of the lights being switched on and the professor announcing the dismissal of class.

“See you at Seungmin’s, Kiyomi.” Minho pinched your cheek briefly and jet straight out of class without another word. You cursed at yourself when even that tiniest touch affected you.

“You okay, noona? You’re looking kind of red.” You had an internal breakdown from Jeongin’s observation.

“Nah I’m fine, Innie. Just kind of hot in here.” Thankfully he just nodded his head and walked with you out of class. Whew, dodged that bullet.

That tutorless night was filled with you locking yourself in your room, away from Chan.

_________________________________________

Click here for Part Two

2chopsticks2eyes - Masterlist

[huenation]

first love never die / kkh

word count: 1,776

genre: angst, idol!txt, non-idol!mc

synopsis: it’s hard to navigate kai’s kindness and affection after he was the one who broke up with you for no reason

hyuka as your heartbreakingly sweet ex boyfriend who while he did end things still cares for you and loves you and is always there. he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body but you can’t help but feel like his kindness, his unchanging love wounds you. beyond the hemorrhaging of your heartbreak, there’s streams of guilt that run deeper with the way you put up a fight and a wall to kai. he keeps trying to be there for you — as a friend, but nothing of his actions since the break up speaks lesser of how he treated you before. you’re angry. you’re coldhearted. you’re on defense. you’re hurt.

and how could anyone be that way to someone who rivals the sun? these are the reasons you find yourself holed away in your room every night. turning down hangouts with the guys, leaving the group chat that you were in with everyone, practically ignoring kai, and in the few cases you speak it’s indifferently, moving away from him every time he even tries to be near you, leaving you to push yourself away in the dark. like how you are now, packing your things unceremoniously to leave, despite just arriving, now that you know kai is home. it’s humiliating, but you can’t turn back time, not when your silent disaster of a breakup now has involved the rest of them.

they do try and get you to stay as always. running away is cowardly. making a big deal out of nothing, or of what can’t be changed, is worse. however, they know you know this well enough.

“it hurts, you know?” the question startles kai, turning on his heel to see soobin at the kitchen table on his ipad, sporting his glasses, and tossing back a can of beer. kai turns back and huffs. he makes a show of how he feels with his crossed arms, pout, and deep sigh that extends to his shoulders. “what?” soobin confirms what he said with a nod. “it hurts for y/n. i mean, i know you mean well, hyuka. you always do, you always have. it just hurts that you still want to be the boyfriend and you aren’t.”

“tell me about it,” kai mutters under his breath, feeling the silence in response and drops another sigh at the weight of soobin’s gaze.

“no, tell y/n about it.” a badger of eyebrows towards the eldest emerges in response.

“well, i can’t.”

“then? it’s unfair for you to not give them space, and i know it’s virtually impossible for us to hang out with them without you since… this is our dorm and y/n’s our friend, but, i’m just saying, you broke up with them, they still don’t know why, and you’re still all over them. feels like you’re dangling a carrot in front of a bunny.”

kai drops his gaze to the floor at that. it takes a minute to settle, pondering now on his leader’s words. he likes to think he’s pretty sympathetic since he has no ill intentions, especially when it comes to you. he hadn’t thought of it that way. he just wanted to help.

but he knows things would only get worse if he did. if he did tell you why he ended things. if he explained why his agency emphasized that he can’t be dating anyone. when he had argued with the higher ups for the sake of keeping you in his life, stating that you and he were meant to be, they warned him that the only person who’d really get hurt is you, unfamiliar with the stark limelight that even he finds harmful as an idol. and he understood. he couldn’t. you always worked above and beyond to make time for him, even rearranging your schedule to align with the brief moments he had free time. he still wanted to be there for you.

but he knew it wasn’t right. so he backed off.

at least he tried to.

you had expected one of the guys to come over to just sit around and do nothing with at your house, opening the door without any hesitation at the knock. of course, your smile drops once you see who it is, eyes shimmering with hurt and anger, and you’re ready to shut the door but he slips his foot between it. you both just stare at his shoe sticking out, his little “ow” causing you to sigh and let him in. he’s so stubborn.

you walk back to your couch, arms crossed, as kai takes in your place. it’s been a month since the breakup. he hasn’t been here since then. nothing much has changed. the little plants at your sliding doors to your balcony lie by the bases of their pots, wilted and dead. a little mess here and there, but it’s still you. just having endured the brunt of getting dumped.

with an aloof and annoyed expression, you pick at your nails, lips pursed in a sour line.

“y/n?” he breathes out and you glance up at him, scowl forming.

“what?”

“have you eaten?”

the question makes you pause just for a second. he’s always cared about your eating and sleeping habits, checking in with you to remind you, taking care of you, and since you never let him a word in edgewise, it caught you off guard. you swallow a lump, rising to step away from him and rummage through your messes of trash and piles of clothes.

you’re not doing well.

“why does it matter to you?”

“because i care.”

you scoff, ruffling a garbage bag angrily, and you can feel him hovering over you from behind.

“here we go.” an eye roll.

“i do. i swear i do!” he presses and even if you hadn’t at all wanted to even talk to him or even look at him, you do all at once.

“then why did we break up?”

the question is finally in the air. your body language is tense, fists balled, expression tough even if he knows lunar eclipses in your eyes are more than soft by the brimming tears ready to take a leap. kai reads all of you, heart breaking, and after a moment, he sucks in a breath and slumps.

“that’s what i thought…” you scoff coldly through your teeth, sniffling and rubbing your wet cheek with your wrist. kai’s own vision blurs. his chest tightens and his throat burns. he hates this so much. instead of protecting you, all he’s done is break your heart and make you hate him.

“i wish i could tell you…” he lets out, voice breaking, and you lift your head at that. he never cries. a palm is stretched over his face, shoulders dropped in and lips trembling past the view of his limb.

“i think the more i talk to you, the more i try to ease the pain, all it does is hurt you and i’m sorry,” he sniffles hard, body scrunching up in an effort to hold in his cry. your eyes are waterfalls by now, even if there’s a mess of anger and sadness in you. kai drops his hand and with much hesitation looks up at you, blood shot eyes and shiny cheeks. you gasp.

“the truth is… my agency forbids us from dating and i know it’s stupid, b-believe me, i know, since you’re allowed to be friends with all of us still, it’s just that… you’re going to get hurt, like… it’s inevitable, y/n, and that’s not even the only thing i tried to fight — ” the breaths he draws in are so shaky and all you want to do is hold him, let him fold in your arms and let him cry, but with everything he’s saying, it only digs your feet further into the ground. your eyes are glazed over at the realization of it all. it didn’t matter how much work you’d put in, you’d always have to be a secret. and if the world discovered you, things would end horrifically not just for you two but for the boys, too.

“i already am the least popular member and you know how bad things can get and i can’t let you take the blow when things come crashing down. i just can’t. even if we try our case, let’s be honest, you’re going to be the one to suffer more and i wish i could do more, i wish i could have explained this to you, but that would have… it would have made me endings a lot harder than they would have to be. so i’m sorry, y/n…”

your grip on your shirt’s hem tightens, while the ones in your eyes loosens with the remnants of your tears. pain feels like gravity now, it’s weighing you down, and your chest feels so full, like you can’t breathe.

“i guess you’re right,” your voice is so broken and hoarse, kai looking up. the two of you stand far apart like strangers, lost looks in your eyes but they are reflections of your navigation of this heartbreak. he had to swallow such a large pill and keep it together for the two of you. how could anyone shoulder this and take the brunt for two?

it didn’t surprise you. your hyuka has not one bad cell in his body.

“i’m sorry, hyuka,” you palm your mouth, trying to shut the wails that are building in your throat down. “i’m sorry i was so cruel to you, i’m sorry i was so angry i didn’t care if it meant you got hurt, i’m sorry i didn’t know the truth…”

apologies flood from your tongue until it’s a jumble of consonants and vowels. kai takes another leap, walking from his spot and moving to you, coming to embrace you. that warmth, that sweet scent of his, the little nose whistles, all of him enveloped you in a hug you didn’t realize you were dying for for so long.

so as you broke down in his arms, knowing words coming from you and him, you felt your world coming down as you knew it. kai had been on this path by himself for about a month while you were taking your first turbulent steps. this isn’t a normal breakup, that much was clear, but one thing that was for certain, when the two of you eventually pulled away, eyes red and swollen, wet nose and cheeks rosy with grief, pupils so dark and broken, voices so tinny and hoarse, hand in hand so tightly, agreement to remain friends forever…

you and kai would always love each other.

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　 　　 　　　　 ੈ✧̣̇˳·˖✶ ✦　　

ending note: pardon this silly little idea i had and the way i RUSHED the ending but i just wanted this out of my sight before it turned into a 10k serious thing hope u enjoyed hehehe

[robininthelabyrinth]

Yay prompts time!!

1. A 5 + 1 idea? Untamed verse: 5 times people flirted with NMJ and he Did Not Realize, and for the one, either the one time he Did Get It, or the one time he tried to flirt with someone else.

5+1 times Lan sect members tried to marry NMJ in front of LXC's salad - ao3

1

The Cloud Recesses was fairly large – not as large as the Nightless City or Lanling City, but impressive enough in its own way, and certainly large enough that a recent guest would need to be shown around a fair number of times before they got the hang of getting around.

That happened to suit Lan Xichen’s purposes perfectly.

Nie Mingjue was more than happy to take him up on his offer to show him new parts of the Cloud Recesses – even if his agreement was perhaps more motivated by a desire to move around than a desire to admire the surroundings, it was still agreement, and that was what was important. He did express a little concern that he was imposing on Lan Xichen, making him walk around the paths that had been familiar to him since childhood, but Lan Xichen firmly assured him that he was no burden at all.

Far from it.

In fact, the opportunity to spend time with Nie Mingjue, virtually alone, was utterly priceless.

They were talking about this and that and nothing and everything, just as they always did – Lan Xichen had never met anyone with whom the words flowed as well and as easily as with Nie Mingjue – when Lan Wangji wandered out of a side path, a solemn and rosy-cheeked little boy.

Lan Xichen was happy to see him, of course. He was always happy to see his little brother, and even more so as of late. Lan Wangji had been so sad these past few months since their mother’s death, and it had really only been very recently that he had emerged from his shell. Nie Mingjue had had something to do with that as well, since there didn’t seem to be anything he couldn’t do, and Lan Wangji had gotten very attached to him as a result, and often went looking for him.

It was only that sometimes Lan Xichen, who barely had any time to have Nie Mingjue all to himself, sometimes wished Lan Wangji would come looking…just a little less often.

“Hey there, Wangji,” Nie Mingjue greeted Lan Wangji with a bright smile that made Lan Xichen’s heart quiver. “Well met. Having a good day today?”

Lan Wangji nodded.

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“As am I,” Lan Xichen interjected. “We won’t stand in your way, Wangji, if there was somewhere you were going…?”

Lan Wangji shook his head, then reached out and tugged Nie Mingjue’s sleeve, his usual signal that he wanted to ask a question.

Nie Mingjue looked at him in silent question, prompting him without pressuring him – he was really great with kids – and after a few moments of chewing over his thoughts, Lan Wangji finally spoke.

“I want to marry you.”

Lan Xichen choked.

Nie Mingjue blinked, then laughed and scooped Lan Wangji up into his arms. “I appreciate that,” he said warmly. “You don’t know how much, really. But marriage is a big old boring ritual, and I’m not planning on doing it for years and years. I’m sure you can find someone you like better than me in the meantime, yeah?”

“No. Only you.” Lan Wangji insisted.

“Well, there’s plenty of time for that,” Nie Mingjue said, giving him a hug and then putting him back down. “But, you know, if you want to get married, you need to make sure you have the criteria for it. Have you been keeping up with your lessons?”

Lan Wangji nodded.

“Good. Keep it up.”

“I will.”

With that, Lan Wangji headed off purposefully, probably towards the training field or maybe the library to do some more copying – probably preparing himself for his future wedding, Lan Xichen thought bitterly, scowling after the (apparently) would-be thief that was his younger brother.

“Oh, don’t make that sort of face,” Nie Mingjue said, seeing him and chuckling. “He’s not going to leave you that quickly. Kids that age, they just get all sorts of ideas in their heads…”

Lan Xichen had a better notion of Lan Wangji’s personality than Nie Mingjue did, but he felt it was preferable that Nie Mingjue continue to not realize how serious Lan Wangji was about his little offer – and anyway, Lan Wangji was only six. Surely he’d find someone he liked better, and leave Nie Mingjue to Lan Xichen, as it ought to be.

“There’s still plenty of time,” he agreed, then smiled at his friend. “Shall we continue?”

2

“Shufu, we have to do something,” Lan Xichen hissed, increasingly desperate.

Nie Mingjue was being cornered by a whole bunch of sect leaders, each and every one of them seeming intent on talking to him about his future marriage. It was no surprise, of course, what with him finally coming out of his filial mourning, recently come of age and already a sect leader of one of the Great Sects; any sect that managed to squeeze their daughters (or their sons, for that matter) into the position of his wife would have pulled off quite a political coup. The fact that Nie Mingjue was uninterested in taking a wife so soon was irrelevant to all of them.

It was not, however, irrelevant to Lan Xichen.

“I don’t know what you want me to do,” Lan Qiren said to him, his uncle toneless as ever and clearly not treating the situation with the gravity it deserved. “He’s turning them all down, isn’t he?”

“They’re trying to trap him! If he says the wrong thing to the wrong person, he’ll insult them, and they’ll be able to use that as a reason to try to get him into trouble and make him do what they want – ”

“Your political acuity has improved,” Lan Qiren said to him, sounding appreciative, and normally Lan Xichen would preen at the compliment, a rarity from his stern, conservative uncle, but now was not the time.

Now was the time to intervene so all those poachers would keep their hands off of Nie Mingjue!

“Shufu, surely there must be something we can do,” Lan Xichen said. He was shifting from one foot to the other, impatient and anxious. He knew it made him seem even younger than he was, a reminder that he was still a callow youth, an adolescent, not yet ready to take the mantle of sect leadership and make important decisions for himself, but he didn’t know how else to convey that this was important. “It’s appalling that they’d ambush him like this, at the very first discussion conference after he’s put away his mourning clothes. It’s in such bad taste!”

“That is true.”

“And we’re the Nie sect’s allies, right? We should make a stand of some sort, stand up for him – show our support – something –”

“That seems a bit too far for a mere alliance,” Lan Qiren remarked. He was stroking his beard. “Xichen.”

“Yes?”

“You do not need to speak around the subject with me, and indeed I would prefer that you did not. If you wish for me to rescue your friend, I will do so.”

“Thank you, shufu,” Lan Xichen said gratefully.

Lan Qiren nodded, then seemed to take a moment to take a breath – almost as if he were steeling himself, though Lan Xichen didn’t know why – and then made his way over to Nie Mingjue, who was listening to some small sect leader passing along his daughter’s effusive compliments over the breadth of his shoulders with a fixed smile on his face that suggested he wanted to throw himself out a window.

Lan Xichen didn’t actually hear what his uncle said, precisely, but he did hear the immediate silence afterwards.

“Ah, forgive me,” Lan Qiren said loudly. “Were you not engaged in a competition of citing terrible examples of courting poetry? I had overheard several of the statements made, and simply assumed.”

Lan Xichen’s eye twitched. Had his uncle just propose to Nie Mingjue himself?

“Age takes precedence,” Nie Mingjue said with a laugh that was more genuine than any of his previous expressions. “I’m sorry, everyone, I’m afraid I must allow Teacher Lan to sweep me away. We’ll be leaving now…”

Lan Xichen made a beeline to where they were walking away from the crowd.

“ – cannot begin to express my thanks,” Nie Mingjue was saying to Lan Qiren, who nodded. Taking the credit for it himself! How could he?!

“Thank Xichen,” Lan Qiren said. “It was his idea that we intervene on your behalf.”

Nie Mingjue turned his smile onto Lan Xichen, who decided that he could forgive his uncle after all.

(But only if he wasn’t serious about marrying Nie Mingjue!)

3

“I seem to have a problem,” Nie Mingjue announced.

“Oh?” Lan Xichen asked, leaning back and looking up at his beloved friend and, now, sworn brother. He was standing on one of the paths in the Cloud Recesses, wreathed with light from the afternoon sun, and he looked happy and light-hearted, with that new expression of freedom that he had only regained now that the war was over. And beautiful, of course, but that was nothing new. “What’s the problem?”

“Your newest ward seems to have taken a liking to me,” Nie Mingjue said, his eyes twinkling as he smiled, as he dropped down to sit next to Lan Xichen on the bench. “He’s been following me around all day, you know, and vows that he won’t let me go ever again.”

Lan Xichen’s eyes narrowed a little – what was it with Lan Wangji’s family line, adopted or not, that made them both incredibly precocious and inclined to stealing? – but he maintained his smile.

“Did he now?” he said, and shook his head. “How silly. Do you remember, Wangji said something similar when he was a little older than that?”

“I do remember,” Nie Mingjue said, shaking his own head. “Ah, those were the days. I mentioned it to him, you know, when I was dropping little Sizhui off with him.”

Lan Xichen paused in what he was doing.

“You…mentioned it? Mentioned what?”

“The fact that he once asked to marry me, of course,” Nie Mingjue said, utterly oblivious. “As a demonstration of how silly children could be, and a compliment for how similar his ward was growing to be like him. He simply hummed thoughtfully at me – I have no idea what he meant by that, though I’m sure you would’ve known at once if you were there.”

Oh, Lan Xichen didn’t have to be there to know. He already knew perfectly well what Lan Wangji’s feelings on the matter were, and they hadn’t changed one bit even with the whole Wei Wuxian business – it was only that he now wanted to marry two eligible young masters, not one. Clearly his little brother needed a refresher course on Do not be greedy.

And now little Lan Sizhui was trying his luck as well?!

At least there was enough of an age difference that Nie Mingjue probably wouldn’t take him too seriously…

“Sizhui is certainly a cute child,” Lan Xichen said, aiming for neutrality.

“Delightful,” Nie Mingjue agreed. “Anyway, what are you up to?”

Lan Xichen was only too happy to change the subject.

4

Lan Xichen had his hands full with trying to mediate between Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao, who were at each other’s throats again – Nie Mingjue was in a particularly nasty temper, too, with his mood having taken a considerable downturn over the past few months despite Jin Guangyao assuring Lan Xichen that he was playing Clarity for him regularly – and he didn’t need any new stresses.

Least of all ones like Su Minshan.

What Jin Guangyao saw in the man, Lan Xichen would never know. He’d been a Lan sect disciple once, and probably Lan Xichen should know the man better than he did – he was around Lan Wangji’s age, though, and Lan Xichen had a bit of a blind spot for his brother’s peers within their own sect. Still, he used to be a Lan disciple, but was no longer, and he’d gone off to make his own sect, which was perfectly reasonable and no one could fault him for, only he’d done it using Lan sect techniques, which they could. It was maddening!

And yet Jin Guangyao persisted in defending him, time and time again…truly, Lan Xichen’s younger sworn brother had too kind a heart.

Far too kind.

“I’m sorry,” Lan Xichen said, managing to maintain his smile through sheer practice in willpower. “I must have misheard something. Did Sect Leader Su just offer you a marriage, Mingjue-xiong?”

Su She looked as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have, as he ought – how dare he try to steal a march on Nie Mingjue behind Lan Xichen’s back, when Lan Xichen was right there? Did he think Lan Xichen was too busy paying attention to Jin Guangyao (who’d vanished off somewhere, come to think of it) to notice when someone was trying to propose marriage to Nie Mingjue?

No way. Absolutely not.

“Xichen, what are you doing here?” Nie Mingjue asked, frowning at him, and – why was he asking that? Why wasn’t he laughing and agreeing that Su She’s offer was completely ridiculous, the way he usually did when some other sect leader made him an offer? “Weren’t you with Meng Yao?”

“He had to go,” Lan Xichen said vaguely, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on Su She, who took a step back when he noticed. “Anyway, I’m here now. What’s this about a marriage, Mingjue-xiong? Something you’re considering?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Nie Mingjue said, sighing. “And it wasn’t a marriage proposal. Sect Leader Su was only making a joke.”

Was he, now?

Lan Xichen smiled at Su She, who for some reason chose to take another step back, then yet another.

“I’m sorry I missed it, then,” he said. “I’d be interested in hearing such…humor.”

“I sadly don’t remember exactly what I said,” Su She said hastily. “Perhaps another time, Sect Leader Lan, Sect Leader Nie. I’m afraid I have another meeting to attend at the moment.”

“Do you? What a pity…”

Su She walked away very quickly.

“You’re really not busy?” Nie Mingjue asked Lan Xichen. “I thought you would be spending time with Meng Yao this afternoon.”

“Ah, I think he’s busy? Anyway, it’s been too long since we spent time together, da-ge! Why don’t we spend the afternoon together…?”

That way he could make sure Su She didn’t come back with any stupid ideas about making that ‘joke’ of his into something more serious.

5

“What do you mean you’re not going to be sect leader again?” Jin Ling asked. He sounded appalled.

Lan Xichen was technically in seclusion at the moment, but he pressed his ear against his door, as he did with anything involving the recently resurrected and now conscious fierce corpse Nie Mingjue.

(Nie Huaisang really didn’t do things by halves, he thought to himself, and for once the pang of sorrow that that thought brought forth was not as bad as it had been. Progress of a sort, he supposed.)

“Why would I be?” Nie Mingjue asked. His voice was lower than it had been in life, raspier; it was probably due to having had his head cut off for so many years. It was still his voice, though. Lan Xichen had missed it. “Huaisang has only just finally had an opportunity to do the job right. I’m going to let him have the chance to shape the sect the way he thinks it ought to be.”

“But…”

“Anyway, I’m not suited for it.”

“Why not? There’s no rule against a fierce corpse being a sect leader!” That was Lan Jingyi, loud as ever.

“That’s only because no one thought of it as a possibility,” Lan Sizhui pointed out. “Anyway, I thought Sect Leader Nie has been doing a pretty good job this past year or so. Why swap him out now?”

“You just say that because you like Chifeng-zun,” Jin Ling grumbled. “Everything he says, you agree with.”

“That’s not true!”

“There are other things you have to think of,” Nie Mingjue interjected, clearly intent on redirecting their argument. “I’m not really alive, after all. Huaisang has shared half his lifeforce with me in order to give me a semblance of real life, rather than merely life as a fierce corpse or even a ghost general like Wen-gongzi – we’ll live together, die together, and as mobile targets go, I’m a lot tougher to kill than he is, but in the end, I’m still dead. And that has certain connotations.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I can’t have children,” Nie Mingjue said dryly. “My ancestors would never forgive me for cutting off the main family line like that.”

“Wait, that’s the reason you won’t be sect leader?” Jin Ling exclaimed. “Because you can’t get married?!”

“That’s ridiculous!” Lan Jingyi shouted, equally fervent. “That shouldn’t be a barrier! That’s just – unfair! I mean, not having children…it’s absurd. You can always adopt, can’t you? And as for marriage, I mean, I’d marry you!”

Lan Xichen felt his eye twitch in a way it hadn’t in years and years.

Lan Jingyi, too?

He would’ve expected it from Lan Sizhui, who’d been a precocious little seducer ever since he was young, but – Lan Jingyi? As far as Lan Xichen knew, he’d only ever been in love with his dinner. That showed what he knew, he supposed; you never knew what sort of hidden depths people had.

“I appreciate it,” Nie Mingjue said, and he sounded serious about it, too. What in the world? Was he serious? Lan Xichen supposed that Nie Mingjue had  always liked lively people, after all, including his own brother…yet surely, the age difference…Nie Mingjue’s current un-alive status…there were so many reasons why it wouldn’t work! “You have a kind heart, and a generous nature. But you really ought to be more thoughtful before saying things like that, all right? You never play too lightly with matters of your future happiness.”

“I – I guess,” Lan Jingyi said. He sounded as though he was frowning. “But I wasn’t speaking lightly! I meant –”

He meant what?!

“No need to explain. You’re a good sort, Lan Jingyi, always willing to help another. Keep that heart of yours.”

“But –”

Lan Xichen ‘accidentally’ knocked down a vase in his room. The crash distracted everyone outside, and then everyone realized they were too close to his household which was supposed to represent silent contemplation – silent as in not disturbed by others – and soon enough, Nie Mingjue was saying, “Why don’t you head back to the main area?”

“Yeah, probably a good idea…aren’t you coming with us, Chifeng-zun?”

“I’ll make my way there eventually,” Nie Mingjue assured them. “For the moment, I just want a quiet place to sit.”

He’d been sitting on the bench outside Lan Xichen’s seclusion for at least a shichen every afternoon, if not two. He said he did it for the quiet to anyone who asked, but Lan Xichen thought it might be…more than that.

Maybe he was waiting for Lan Xichen.

+1

“Xichen,” Nie Mingjue said. He was smiling. “You’re out of seclusion?”

“I am,” Lan Xichen said. “I have – many things to say to you.”

“Not more apologies! Haven’t we had our fill of them?”

“Perhaps. I have a different question for you – one I should have asked a long time ago.”

“Ask anything.”

“All right,” Lan Xichen said. “Will you marry me?”

“Of course.”

Lan Xichen blinked. “…what, just like that?”

“I’ve been waiting for you to ask me that for years,” Nie Mingjue said. “Why wouldn’t I say yes?”

Lan Xichen opened his mouth, then closed it again. Had it really been that easy all this time?

“Anyway, who else am I supposed to marry, especially after I put in all that effort to learn all your family rules?” Nie Mingjue chuckled. “I don’t suppose anyone else in your Lan sect would be willing!”

“…mm,” Lan Xichen said. “Let’s focus on us, shall we?”